First Timers: Pokemon X and Y
by OCfan11
Summary: It is like a dream. For one of them it is. Two kids from our world wake up in the Pokemon world. Join them as they travel across Kalos. If it's too good, is it a dream? Can you change if it isn't?
1. Chapter 1

Pokémon X and Y: First Timers

Chapter 1: Well… This is awkward.

The living room is a quaint little place in the house. A television sits on a dresser in the corner, two identical couches facing it. A window, closed with the curtains drawn is on the left. If it was open, two figures would be seen running up the driveway. One is tall and femininely slim. The other, a male, reaching the lady's shoulder is of stocky build. Turning back into the room, there is a rectangular coffee table. On the top of this light brown table is a large round bowl, filled with blue stones that clash with the brown painted walls. There are another two items on the table. One is a red and black (box-like in shape), while the other is blue and black. They are 3DS's.

A door opens on the bottom floor, and then slams shut. Voices echo through the house. Soon after, footsteps sound up of walking up the stairs. The two figures from outside emerge into the room from the stairway. The younger boy rushes over to the red 3DS and scoops it up. As he sits down onto one couch, his sister walks over and picks up the blue 3DS. She takes a seat down on the other couch. For a few moments she watches as her younger brother struggles to open the package of his new game. She holds out a slim hand.

"Do you want me to," she asks, referring to the game's package. Her brother hands it over rather reluctantly. She quickly undoes the plastic wrap and hands it back.

The boy, twelve years old, and his sister, sixteen years old, start up their gaming consoles. Both click on the Pokémon game, the boy Pokémon Y and the girl Pokémon X. As their games start up, the sister turns to the brother.

"So, you know the rules," she raises her eyebrows.

The boy rolls his blue eyes, "Of course. You've only gone over them five different times."

The girl's face scrunches up, "Well, sorry. For that, I'll go over them again."

"Ugh," the boy shakes his head and watches the starting video.

"We both start at the same time," his sister leans on an armrest and stares at the boy, who is obviously ignoring her. "We both choose our starter at the same time. We both take or first steps together," she flicks her brother.

"Hey!"

"I've been waiting for you to get your game before I would play mine," she says impatiently. "Now pay attention."

"Fine," the red-brown hair boy stares unhappily at his sister, hoping she is going to wrap it up soon.

"We take our steps first steps together, then, um, ah what was it… Oh yah! Whoever beats the Pokémon league and champion is officially the winner."

"What do we win," the boy raises an eyebrow.

"Besides bragging rights," her blue eyes stare, telling him that he should know that there should not be anything else added.

"Yes," the brown-red hair bobs as he nods.

"Okay, um," she pauses to think. Her eyes drift to the title screen. "How about one free Pokémon? Any one the winner wants that we have at the time."

"Sure," they shake hands and position themselves on the couches with their consoles in hand.

"Ready," the brown hair girl asks.

"Ready," the boy agrees.

"Then let's go," the both smile as they touch the screen to continue.

...

Ow, my head, the girl thinks. She raises a hand to her eyes, finding sleep in the corners. What? I thought I was starting playing Pokémon with Alex. Why is it so dark?

Blue eyes flutter open, but one would never know as it is black. The girl sits up at the same time her brother wakes up.

"Oh," the twelve year old groans as opens his blue eyes. What happened? Last thing I remember was starting the game. Huh? Where's Sienna?

"Alex," a girl's voice shouts through the darkness. "Are you out here?"

"Sienna," the boy calls back. "Is that you?"

Before any can say anything else, a light turns on. It illuminates the center, allowing the siblings to see each other. The sister goes to stand in front of her brother as a man appears in the center of the light.

The man has black hair that swirls around one side of his face. He stands tall, taller than the 5'7" girl standing in front of her brother. He is wearing a lap coat over casual clothing. He stares at the two siblings, smiling. It is an involuntary smile, though. Something that makes the man's looks more robot than human. This makes the girl suspicious.

He outstretches his hand. Some small, ball shape falls into the hand. He speaks, causing the older sister to tense up, "I am Augustine Sycamore, the Kalos region's very own Pokémon Professor."

Metaphorically, the ellipsis mark (. . .) appears over both siblings' heads. The boy is the first to clue in. An exclamation mark metaphorically appears.

"Hey sis," he tugs on his sister's arm. "I think we're in Pokémon."

His sister raises an eyebrow, and then shakes her head. She states, "This has to be a dream." Seeing her brother's face fall, she continues, "But that doesn't mean we don't have to enjoy it."

The two turn back to the professor in expectance. They wait, and wait, and wait… and wait.

"Hello," the girl snaps her fingers. The boy waves his hands around in different motions. "Are you going to say anything?" The girl reaches out a hand, only for it to bounce off of an invisible field.

"Hey sis," her brother asks, pointing to her left wrist. That was the one to bounce off the wall. "What's that?"

On her wrist is a watch, except it is not. It goes from her wrist to halfway to her elbow. There is a screen in the middle, a rotate selected part on the left with styles to the left of that, and four buttons on the right (labelled X, Y, A, B).

"It looks like the bottom of a Nintendo DS, without the select or start button," she says, trying to take it off. "It won't budge," she frowns. Something catches her eyes, causing her to grab the boy's left arm. "You have one as well!"

True to her word, the boy has a red one. He grabs back his arm, accidently hitting the A button.

Both turn as the professor clicks and toss the ball from his hand. A Pokémon with antlers, reaching 2'11", with white, green and black fur, and orange hooves, emerges. The two stare with open mouths at the new Pokémon.

"This world of ours is widely inhabited by creatures known as Pokémon," the professor says, causing the two to snap towards him as the Pokémon gives its call.

"So now you feel like talking," the boy says, rolling his eyes. He stands beside his sister, "Now we're getting the famous professor speech huh?"

The professor says nothing, just stares with that never fading creepy smile. Hesitantly, the girl presses a button on her wrist. Both blink in shock as a painting materializes on their left. They gaze at it, not noticing the professor and Pokémon disappearing.

"These mysterious creatures can be found in every corner of our world… Some run across the plains, others fly through the skies, and others yet swim deep in the ocean… We live together with these Pokémon, lending our strength to one another to live and prosper." The professor reappears to the left of the painting. They gaze, the boy hitting the A button.

Two mirrors appear in front of the siblings. Both take a step back in shock.

"Let's get started with some quick questions… Are you a boy or a girl?"

The girl twitches at that and turns to glare, but the professor has disappeared again. She turns back to the girl in the mirror who is most surely NOT her. This girl has blonde hair, instead of brown. She is wearing a black shirt, tucked into a red skirt. Nothing against skirts, the girl thinks, but I really hate wearing them. The mirror girl is wearing long black socks and black thick shoes, which the real girl has admittedly wanted for a long time.

The boy stares his reflection. His brown-red hair is now black and he is wearing a cap with glasses. Glancing at his sister's reflection, she is as well. He feels the top of his head, nothing but hair. The mirror is wrong. His mirror is wearing a carrier bag, as his sister's mirror has a side bag. He is wearing a blue jacket, blue jeans, black socks, and black shoes. This person looks the same age as himself, not ten years old like it is supposed to be.

"I'm a boy," he says out loud. His mirror changes into a billboard with three pictures of faces. His sister follows, saying 'girl'.

"I want red hair and blue eyes," the boy whines. There is a blink as a fourth face appears under the middle. "That's it."

"Brown hair, blue eyes," his sister mutters. They smile at each other and press the fourth new face on their own billboards.

"Oho," The siblings do a 180 jerk around as the professor appears behind them, "I see. Would you tell me your name?"

A bleep comes from both wrists as a word pad appears on the screen. The siblings take their styluses and write.

"Alexander," the boy says, showing his sister.

"Would you rather be called Alex," she says typing down her nickname.

"Um… Nah, I'll tell them to call me that if I want them to."

"Xena," the sister says, pronouncing it zee-nah.

"Why not Sienna?"

"Call me that if you want," she shrugs. "I would rather be called my nickname. I feel weird telling people to call me that."

"Alright sis," they press enter on the pad.

The professor disappears again and they turn to the billboards-turned-mirrors.

"So it's Alexander, then? Did I get it right?"

"Yes," answers Alexander. His reflection gives him thumbs up.

"So it's Xena, then? Did I get it right?"

"Yes," she whispers, her reflection smirks at her.

"Alexander… Xena… Très bien! What fantastic names!"

The professor reappears to their right. A force pushes them forward towards the professor and the golden light being produced from behind him. Xena falls to her knees as her brother falls on her. He tumbles forwards and she log rolls a few times. The professor keeps his calculated, chilly gaze on them.

"Alexander and Xena! Your adventure begins now! You are about to enter the beautiful Kalos region! Go and meet many Pokémon and people and fill your life with rich experiences!"

"What is your problem," Alexander demands, stumbling to his feet. The two don't see their A buttons pressing as the field pushes them forward.

"Alex," his sister yells as the boy disappears into the light. She has to pass the professor before entering the light. On impulse she lifts a fist and slams it into his cheek.

Inhale "-" before she can say anything, she is sucked into the light. For her and Alexander, everything goes white, and then black.

Ever so slowly, after they have left, the professor raises a hand to his cheek. No words are thought, but pain registers in his mind as he presses his cheek. There is a flash through his lifeless gray eyes. There for a second, and then gone the next. The professor disappears along with the room. He reappears hours later, waiting to for the player to come to Lumiose City. The new found bruise is now forgotten.

...

A tiny bird, known as a tiny robin Pokémon flies through the house. Its orange-red head and baby blue coloured body is a streak as it goes up the stairs. It stops at the top, pausing at the two doors. There shouldn't be two doors. It goes back to default and takes the door on the left, waking the room's occupant.

"Ahhh!"

Thump.

:::

Xena takes a deep breath, enjoying the peace in the room. No cars zooming by outside, no brother stomping around next door, no anything. The peace is a beautiful thing.

"Ahhh!"

The sudden noise causes the sixteen year old to jump and, literally, fall out of bed. She gazes around the unfamiliar room, which almost everything in it is pink. Even her television is pink. This is the only thing that needs to be here to let Xena know that this isn't her room. She banned everything pink from her room since the 'Gumming Incident'.

Quickly grabbing the only small not pink item, a Wii remote, she rushes out of the pink room and into the hallway. She notices the door across from her room is open a crack. She pushes out, only to have the tiny robin Pokémon fly into her face. The knee jerk reaction to swat it happens, but thankfully she doesn't hit it. It flies away with a 'cheerp' like chirp. Almost instantly forgetting it, she flings open the door. In shock, her mouth drops and she gasps at the sight before her.

:::

Alex is going to get up. At least that is what he keeps telling himself. He has been trying to bring back the dream that is slowly fading. It had something to do with a lab coat, and maybe something about a tree…

It was a big surprise when a cheerp sounded in his room. Alex frowns in his daze. Why did my alarm go off? I was sure I turned it off for the weekend. Just as he is about to turn and click off his alarm, he is hit in the side.

Because the attack was unexpected, he acts like one normally would. He jerks awake with an, "Ahhh!"

Thump, the sound rings through the walls from the other room, but Alex is more focused on the bird flying around his room, and then out his door. Then he takes in his room; it is very blue, very, very blue. He looks at his pyjamas, which are also very blue. Seeing a mirror, he walks dazedly towards it. He stands in front of the mirror, and the watch on his wrist beeps. He doesn't hear the door open behind him, or the gasp from his sister as he presses 'change clothing'. He blinks and is suddenly in the clothing from the dream, which all comes back to mind.

"So we are in Pokémon," Alex hears a female voice behind him. He turns to see a brown hair, blue eye girl staring at him. She is wearing his pyjamas, pink. If they weren't pink, he would have thought it to be his sister. "That is you, right Alex?"

"Who are you," Alex demands. The girl starts, and then narrows her eyes. She raises a Wii remote accusingly.

"You didn't forget about your sister already, did you?"

"Sienna," he hesitantly asks. The girl nods, "But you can't be her, you're wearing pink! She hasn't worn pink sin-"

"Not by choice I haven't," the girl spits out. She looks disdainfully at her clothing. "And don't bring that up. I'd rather forget about it."

"But you looked hilarious in bubble gum," Alex cracks up at the image of his sister with bubble gum stuck to her hair. "We never did figure out how you did that." Sienna twitches an eyebrow. Alex sobers up and continues, "So, that wasn't a dream, huh?"

"I guess not," his sister shrugs. "I'm going to go change. I can't say I'm not excited to start this adventure."

Sienna leaves, allowing Alex explore his room in silence. He finds a Wii U, something they weren't allowed to have in real life, a Wii remote, a huge television, some books that have nothing in them, a picture frame with no picture, and a PC that had a note saying 'this was from dad'.

"Do you have a PC as well," Sienna asks, walking in and fixing her newly on hat.

"Yes," Alex shows her the note.

"If you press X on the watch and it will come up," she explains and does a demonstration. "It's like a 3DS, except instead of a screen we are living it."

Alex proceeds to press the save button. He checks out the options button, switching the text speed too fast.

"I wouldn't do that," his sister warns.

"I'll do whatever I want," he sniffs and goes back to the options menu. He changes the text speed to normal again. His sister rolls her eyes in amusement. A very minor thing causes her to squeal in excitement. Her brother, thinking it is something bad, quickly looks around the room, "What?"

"I'm wearing running shoes," said girl drops to the floor to hug her leg. After a few moments she notices her brother's silence. She looks up to see his apathetic face. "What?"

"Nothing," he is quick to the reply.

"You have them on as well," she points to his shoes.

"Well, ya. Why wouldn't I have running shoes?"

"Because normally one wouldn't get running shoes until way later in Pokémon," she pauses. "You know if, we are in Pokémon."

"I'm hoping I'm dreaming," her brother says. "That way I haven't been kidnapped. That would explain why you've taken this so well."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I am freaking out," she stands up and brushes off imaginary dust. "But I'd rather be in crazy land then pretend this is a dream. Why not just go with it?"

"Because then you admit you're crazy," he points out, "or you develop a case of Stockholm Syndrome."

"Oh, big words. Besides, I already knew I was crazy," she walks over to the doorway. Pushing it open further to reveal the hallway, she motions for her brother to follow. "And how can you develop Stockholm Syndrome if you don't know who captured you." She pauses," well I guess you could say the game captured us."

"Where are you going," Alex glances nervously as his sister walks out the door.

"Downstairs, to get this adventure going," another pause, "and to find something to eat, I'm starving."

At 'food' Alex's stomach grumbles. He reluctantly follows behind Sienna as they walk down the stairs.

And they walk.

And walk.

And walk.

And wal-

"Why are there so many stairs," Sienna groans. "I'm not this physically active."

"Says the girl who is excited about running shoes," Alex mumbles. Sienna doesn't hear him, or if she does she chooses not to listen, and walks sluggishly down the stairs.

"Fin- huff -ally," Sienna huffs out at the bottom. Alex rolls his eyes at her dramatics. The sporty boy doesn't realize that she really is out of breath. They hear a sound, sort of like an exclamation mark, and turn to see a woman walking towards you.

"Morning Alexander, Xena," she greets happily. There is a robotic tone to her voice that only Sienna catches. The girl looks at the woman suspiciously while the boy gawks at her pants. "You sure slept well! All rested up from the move?"

"Wait," Sienna whispers puts out a hand to stop her brother from pressing A.

"I thought you were the one who wanted to move on with the adventure," he says crossly.

"Excuse me," she ignores her brother. "Who are you?"

The woman doesn't answer. The two even check their watches, but nothing comes up.

"Where did we move from," Sienna tries to ask again. The woman doesn't answer again. While Alex is getting strange, the brown hair girl frowns in thought. She sighs, "Okay, you can press A."

He does just that, causing the woman to talk again, "It's about time you got going!" A button. "Why don't you step out and say hello to the neighbors?" With another A button press she turns and walks away like nothing happened.

"…" The sister blinks. "I think I'm going to go out and say awk-ward."

"More like creepy," Alex takes a good look around the house. "Hey! There's that bird that crashed into me this morning!"

They both walk over to it, Sienna's stomach grumbling lightly. The Pokémon moves every five seconds or so. On impulse the girl sticks out her left arm and presses the A button.

"Cheerp, Cheerp," the Pokémon goes.

"Ah," Alex jumps back and covers his ears. With a groan he hangs his head, "That noise is going to give me nightmares.

"It's alright Alex," says his sister, rubbing his head. "It's only the Pidgey of the game. We're only going to encounter it, oh, let's say in route two and three. Maybe even four if we're lucky!"

"I don't feel better," Alex shudders. His stomach growls loudly, causing his sister to giggle. "Come on, let's get something to eat."

"Let's ask the woman," Sienna gives a small smile. "You try it, just point and press A."

Alex does as she says, and the mother turns towards them with her creepy mechanical smile. "Don't wake up Rhyhorn, okay?" she says.

"O-kay," Sienna draws out the 'o' as her brother presses A. The woman turns back to whatever she was doing. "So, who is Rhyhorn? Does she have that Pokémon?"

"Speaking of which," Alex nudges his sister. "Which Pokémon game do you think we're in, X or Y?"

"Good question," she flicks up one finger. "Another question, if your rival or whoever is supposed to be the opposite gender of you then who is our rival." She flicks up another finger. "And another one, did you look at any walkthrough or let's plays before we came here," she flicks up a third finger.

"I don't know and no; I tried to keep this as much as a surprise as possible."

"Then we're screwed," Sienna shrugs.

"How can you say that and be so calm!"

"Because this is kind of exciting, besides the whole meeting people and having strangers challenge you to battles of course."

"Oh, right. You don't do so well with new people, do you?"

"Nope," she pops the 'p'. As she talks, she looks around the kitchen for food. "All though, if what I think is true then I won't need to do any talking."

"What do you think," Alex, now curious, gazes at his older sister's back.

"That everyone here, besides you and me, is a program," she explains, not noticing her brother's jaw drop. "That explains why they don't answer our questions and why we have to press A to get them to talk. I think the only thing we have to do is press this," she holds up her left arm while digging through a cupboard, "to decide yes or no."

"Found anything," Alex chooses not to touch that subject.

"Hold on… Aha," Sienna pulls out a cracker box. She takes a peek inside and sighs. "I guess even this woman has a problem with shopping. Here," she hands Alex the box.

"What about you," he asks unsurely.

"I'll be fine until we find something," she stifles a stomach rumble. "When you're ready lets head out side."

A few minutes later Sienna is scrapping the box under the kitchen sink. "Are you ready?"

"Yep," Alex shifts his hat and hair. "Let's get this storyline started."

Sienna opens the door… to find three people turn and look at them. One is a girl with blond hair and Sienna's exact outfit. Another is a boy with black hair is the same outfit as Alex. The last is a medium size girl with long brown hair tied up, a pink shirt with black bowties and short black shorts.

"Welcome to Vaniville Town," the two wearing the same clothing as the siblings say at the same time. Again, at the same time, the girl says "My name's Serena. I'm your neighbor," and the boy says, "The name's Calem. I live next door."

The siblings at the door blink once, twice, thrice, before Alex asks, "So are you two siblings?"

A silence falls as all three stare smiling at Alex and Sienna. Both siblings feel the awkwardness, but don't choose to say anything. Instead, Sienna snaps first and says, because there is nothing else to say, "I like your outfit."

Again there is awkward silence. Alex finally gets that he is supposed to press A. He does and the third girl speaks up.

"And I'm Shauna! Great to meet you," the girl says with over enthusiasm.

By force of habit, Alex and Sienna say, "It's nice to meet you too," and, "Great to meet you too."

Sienna, feeling smaller by the second of the silence, presses her A button.

Shauna continues, "Guess what! We've come to get you!"

… Both siblings deadpan. Sienna whispers to Alex, "Is it just me or did that sound like they're going to kidnap us?"

He nods, "Definitely kidnaping."

Sienna presses the A button. The two neighbors speak at the same time again.

The girl says, "The esteemed Professor Sycamore lives here in the Kalos region."

The boy says, "The renowned Professor Sycamore lives here in the Kalos region."

"… Is it just me or do those two love the creep who asked us if we were a boy or a girl," Alex asks.

"Nope, it isn't just you," Sienna says before pushing the A button to move on.

Again, they speak together. The boy says, "I heard he has a task for seven kids, including us." While the girl says, "I was told he has a request for seven kids, including us."

"Is it just me or is this getting really creepy," Sienna asks out loud. "I mean seriously, get to the kidnapping already."

"Hush," Alex snaps. "I want to get these twins speech over with as soon as possible."

Together, Calem and Serena say the next thing.

Serena says, "But I'm a little surprised he knows who you are. You did just move to Vaniville, after all."

Calem says, "But I'm surprised he knows who you are. You did just move to Vaniville, after all."

"Does anyone else here think the creep professor is our father," Sienna whispers to her brother. "But that would make it really awkward since he didn't know our gender."

Alex chokes on a laugh, years of manners kicking in and stopping him from being rude. He presses the A button next.

This time Shauna speaks, "We'll wait for you in the next town over!" If this was an anime, Alex thinks to himself, then she would have sparkles around her. "And you know what?!" Sienna presses A. "We're going to get a Pokémon!" She presses A again. "C'mon! Hurry! Let's go!" Alex presses A and the three turn and run away. Sienna runs over to the wall as she sees brown hair go by. She watches as they open a gate and leave.

"Okay," Sienna nods as she walks back towards her brother. "I'll admit that was very weird."

"Extremely weird," Alex corrects. "So, are we going to follow them?"

"Might as well," Sienna mutters. "We get a free Pokémon out of this."

"Hey, what is that?"

Alex rushes over and jumps on the giant rock as Sienna turns to see what he is talking about. She gulps at the sight of the giant, sleeping Rhyhorn.

This is awesome, Alex thinks. I forgot you could ride Pokémon in this game. I wonder what would happen if I kick his sides like a horse.

"Alex," Sienna's voice warns of using caution. "Please get off the sleeping Pokémon. Remember what the woman said."

"Party pooper," the boy mumbles as he slides off.

"Please," his sister rolls her eyes. "I've wanted to ride a Pokémon probably longer than you have. I am just a bit hesitant to ride a Pokémon that isn't too bright and can shatter skyscrapers."

"He can really do that," Alex asks a little skeptical. Sienna does notice the hint of excitement in his voice.

"Yes, so please get off of him or her."

Alex sighs and slides off.

"Now, let's go talk to some of the villagers," Sienna says, smiling and running off of the short property.

"I think you're more excited for this then I am," Alex sighs as she motions for him to follow. "I just want this adventure to be over." And it hasn't even started, he adds to himself.

"Come on Alex," His older sister yells with new energy. "Let's have some fun in this wonderland!"

Alex smiles, I guess I might as well enjoy it, "Coming Sis!" It can't be forever. I'll wake up eventually. He jogs after her, a smile on his face.

And so the story begins.

...

The woman in the house stands in front of her kitchen counter. She doesn't think, doesn't move. In fact, she shouldn't even be standing there now that she is the only one in the house. The inside of the house shouldn't even be there. They are gone.

Why did we move, she thinks to herself. Then there is no more thought. She goes back to being a non-playable with no feelings and no thoughts. The only difference is that she is still there. She stands there as the Rhyhorn outside sleeps and has a dream for a few seconds. Then, all is right in the game world as no one thinks besides Alexander and Sienna.

* * *

**A/N: Hi. So this is my first story and I swear the title has nothing to do with it. One thing led to another and voila, a plot line immerged. So I hope you enjoy it. I'll try to post often, but when the holidays hit I'll have no time. There will be a side story to explain some things. Like the 'Gumming Indecent', which is 100% made up. I don't have a problem with pink, but Xena does.**

** Two things real quick: if the nickname is being used, that's me trying to do the point of view of that person. Secondly, and probably the biggest, I have never played X or Y. I'm using all the information I get from the web and friends. I write chapters as I watch the let's plays. So please no spoilers.**

** Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any shape or form. All rights belong to the respected owners.**

** I do own Sienna (Xena) and Alexander (Alex). Please don't steal **


	2. Chapter 2 Just Give Me a Pokemon

Chapter 2 Just give us our Pokémon!

She is adorable, Xena thinks to herself. The little girl in front of her has short brown hair, a lovely beige jacket (anything that isn't pink looks great to her right now), and is as short as a five year old. So, Xena naturally lifted her arm and pressed A to talk to the girl.

"I reeeally want a Pokémon! Then I could go wherever I want!"

The image of the adorable girl shatters. Her voice is high and squeaky. There is too much enthusiasm, so much that it is false. Just like everyone else in this world, Xena frowns to herself, false.

She hears her brother jog up from behind. Turning, she puts on a smile and asks, "Where do you want to explore first?"

"Weren't you the one who thought this was all a dream," Alexander asks, gazing around. "How come I'm the one thinking it is a dream now?"

"Because this may or may not be a dream," she answers, shrugging. "I've just accepted it that I'm here now. Might as well go with it, right?"

"I still think it's a dream," he answers. Alexander walks to the house next door, his sister trailing behind her.

"Then why haven't we woken up," Xena passes him and knocks on the door.

He pauses before coming up to her. "Okay, I'll admit it. This isn't a dream."

"See, don't you feel better," the door still hasn't opened.

"Strangely, yes… This is a dream."

"Uh," Xena sighs. "I can't force you, but at least try to enjoy it. Please, for me?"

"Fine," Alexander rolls his eyes. "Now what's with this door?"

Alexander reaches forwards and twists the doorknob. The door flies open at his small push. Inside, a woman stands aimlessly taking a step every now and again. Both siblings look at each other, than at the woman. Xena lifts up her arm and presses A.

"Oh," the lady's voice holds no surprise. It is monotone, clashing with the smile on her face. "You must be the new young man and woman from next door. Welcome to Vaniville Town!" Her voice becomes raised at the end of the sentence but still manages to be monotone. Xena sighs slightly, the falseness of it all starting to grate on her. Pressing A, the woman continues, "We have a son and daughter about the same age as you. If you do meet our Calem and meet our Serena, I hope you will all become good friends."

Pressing A, the woman goes back to taking steps. Xena turns and whispers to her brother, "Did you notice she talks in first person plural?"

"I didn't know what to call it," Alexander says out loud. "And why are you whispering? She can't hear us."

"I know," Xena whispers back, "but it still feels weird. I don't like talking as if she isn't here."

"Then let's head out," Alexander says, already turning to the door. "She is super weird. I feel especially weird that she's talking about the son, who looks almost exactly like me."

They leave and head to their other neighbor's house. Xena gazes down at her brother. Despite his claim that this is a dream and blank look on his face, his eyes sparkle with wonder and he gazes at everything. Xena smiles and turns back to the large house they are now in front of. It's good he's enjoying himself, she thinks. Now I need to relax. This isn't as bad as Black and White; the opposing team isn't that cruel. At least, I don't think they are.

Coming out of her thoughts, Xena stands behind her brother as he opens the door. Years of her knocking makes this feel like breaking and entering. Anxiety fills her, and a strange nervousness passes over it as the house's occupants don't turn. They are NPCs, she decides. This fact doesn't make her feel any less awkward about not knocking.

"I'm heading up stairs," Alexander announces. Xena raises a hand to grab and stop him, but doesn't. She slowly lowers it, the objection stuck in her throat. She shakes her head as her brother rushes upstairs.

I wanted him to enjoy this, she thinks while pointing and pressing A at the room's occupants. I should stop being overprotective. If everything is going like the game, then nothing bad should happen… right?

Loud thumps echo down the stairs as Xena finishes listening to the people's speeches. She turns just in time to see Alex with a small purple squirt bottle in his hand.

"What is that," she asks as he runs up to her, presenting it. She lightly takes it and holds it up, examining it.

"A potion," he says excitedly. "I found it in the garbage."

One Mississippi two Missis- "Ew," Xena shoves the potion back at her brother. "You went through someone's garbage? Go wash your hands!"

"I already did," Alexander says rolling his eyes. "I also washed the potion. Come on, I want to go and get my Pokémon."

Giving a small smile, Xena follows her brother out the door, neither realizing the inside of the house disappears as they closed the door.

"So," Xena starts. "Are we going to walk or run there?"

"I'll race you," Alexander smiles and takes off towards the gate.

"Hey," Xena shouts. Shaking her head with a smile she jogs after him. Xena is strong, but not as athletic as her brother.

"Come on sis," Alexander yells behind his shoulder. He pushes the gate open as she easily catches up. Xena's already winded.

A bleep sounds on their left wrist. Both stop running; Xena has to dodge around her brother before she stops. They look down at their wrists and read: "Route 1 Vanillie Town Pathway'.

"This is route one," shouts Alexander. Xena mirrors his disbelief as she looks around the small path. "Where are the Pokémon? Where is the adventure? It's just a straight pathway!"

As her brother rants about the lack of Pokémon, Xena looks around at the foliage. The place is beautiful, she admits. Even if it isn't the most real, it is beautiful. The smell of dew, the feel of the cool air; I could get used to this.

They walk through the simple route, Xena lost in thought while her brother continues to rant. The two are drawn out of their happenings as the pathway ends and bleeps sound from their wrists. They read the new words: 'Aquacorde Town'.

"Look at this place," Xena whispers. "It's all made of stone. Almost like we're in France eh?"

Before Alexander can say anything, two voices ring out, "Hey, Alexander and Xena! This way! Over here!"

Both turn and walk over to the three connected round tables. Siting at one end is Shauna, who says, "We were just talking about you!" Alexander presses the A button. "C'mon, have a seat!"

To Shauna's left is Serena, who up closer looks around Alexander's age. Xena sits next to her and, and her brother sits on her left. Calem sits across from Alexander with an orange haired person on his left. A tall, larger boy sits between Shauna and the orange hair one. All of them have this creepy smile on their faces. Calem's face is a little less cheerful than the rest, making him seem more emotionless, but less creepy.

"This is the meeting place, Alexander, Xena," Serena speaks. Alexander presses A below the table. "Here, let me introduce you." A button, "Everyone, this is Alexander and Xena."

It strikes Xena odd that Serena doesn't motion who is who. She discards this thought quickly as there are a lot of odd things here.

"Wow… Shauna's description was spot on," says the taller boy. He looks either thirteen or fourteen years old. Do NPCs talk when we aren't around, Xena wonders? Her brother presses A.

Serena talks again, "So Alexander, Xena, this is Tierno. He's got some serious dance moves and…" A button, "This is Trevor. He never misses a single question on his tests, but he's a little shy…"

"That's a guy," Alexander shouts. Xena coughs and chokes into her hand. She might have thought that Trevor was a girl as well, but she wasn't going to say anything. Her brother's eyes are wide as he stares at the supposedly shy male. Smirking a bit, she presses A this time.

"All right! Nice to meetcha," Tierno shouts. It sounds wrong as the tone he uses is monotone. He looks like he would be a fun person if he had emotion. "You know, it'd feel like we're a closer crew if we call each other by nicknames." A button, "Can I call you A-Meister and Lady-X?"

"What," Sauna shouts. "No way! They're Lil' A and Lil' X for sure!"

"Don't we get a say," Alexander demands.

"What do you think Trevor," Shauna asks.

"What," Trevor jumps. "You want me to nickname someone I just met?" A button, "Shauna, you shouldn't put people on the spot like this."

Trevor goes against what he just says and presents the nickname, Big A and Big X. Xena shakes her head and leans back as they fight for a bit longer about a nickname. Serena finally speaks up, "Why don't you decide what we should call you?"

Key pads come up on the watch on both siblings' wrists. "See sis," Alexander says, typing in his nickname as 'Alex'. "You should have typed your name in as Sienna."

Xena sticks her tongue out at her brother and types in 'Xena' on her pad.

"You want us to call you Alex and Xena," Shauna asks. The two in question nod and press A. "Ok! Alex and Xena fit you two perfectly! I'm sure we're going to be great friends so I'll call you that to!"

Shauna turns to Tierno and asks, "Hey! Can we see the Pokémon now? I want to meet my new partner soon!"

"I know, right," Tierno says. "It was such a cool feeling when Trevs and I met our Pokémon! Hope you feel the same way we did!" He reaches into his bag and pulls out two cases, each with three poke balls. He holds out one case to Alexander and the other to Xena. Alexander quickly grabs the poke ball labelled Chespin while Xena hesitantly grabs the ball labelled Froakie. Calem takes the Chespin from Xena's case and Serena chooses the Fennekin from Alexander's case. Shauna takes the remaining Fennekin and Froakie, clipping each ball to either side of her belt.

Screens come up on the siblings wrists. It asks if they want to nickname their Pokémon. Xena clicks no while Alexander clicks yes. He names his Chespin, Chestnut. He clicks yes to confirm.

Calem, Serena, and Shauna all talk to their new Pokémon. The two look-a-likes talk lowly while Shauna shouts out loud.

"Uh, pardon me," Trevor speaks up, "but I have something for you from the professor as well." A button, "I have something that will help you understand Pokémon on a much deeper level."

Bleeps sound causing Xena and Alexander to look towards their wrists. A new app appears that reads Pokédex.

"Um, so you see…" Trevor continues. The siblings look back up at him, Alexander pressing A. "The Pokédex I gave you is a high-tech device that automatically," A button, "records the Pokémon you encounter!" A button, "The reason you get one is because the Professor wants us to go on," A button, "a journey with our Pokémon and complete the Pokédex."

"Why do we have to do all the dirty work," Alexander grumbles. Xena shares his train of thought. "And why is it Ash is the one to reap the rewards?"

"Because Ash is the only one annoying enough to use his Pokedex all the time," Xena whispers. Her brother presses A.

Trevor continues, "To put it another way, it's an important mission fr-"

"No, it's not," Alexander shouts.

"-om the professor. I'm sure of it!" Trevor finishes as if the outburst didn't happen.

"It's no use," Xena whispers to her brother. "We are being forced into this whether we want to or not."

"I can't believe the professor would pile his dirty laundry on us," Alexander growls.

Xena pats her brother sympathetically, "At least we get a free Pokémon out of it."

Tierno speaks next, "Oh lighten up, Trevs! You're way too serious sometimes." A button, "Um, Alex or Xena… Please take this with you, too." Xena, who is now suspicious, presses A, "It's a letter from the professor. He said you should give it to your mom."

Xena snatches the letter that appears from thin air. Out loud, she asks, "Is the professor having an affair with our mum?" She slaps a hand over her mouth. Her brother starts laughing hysterically while the others give no notice of hearing. "Did I actually say that out loud?"

"Yes," Alexander calms down and wipes away an imaginary tear. "Oh, I can't believe you said that."

"Oh shush," Xena sinks in her seat. "But could you imagine, a Pokémon game that has the father away somewhere and the mother having an affair with the professor? That will be the day."

Pressing A, Tierno continues, "All right! We're done our errand for the professor."

"Wait," Xena asks, slight pain entering her eyes. "So the only reason you came here was because the professor asked you? You didn't want to meet us?"

"I'm sure that's not it," Alexander says, but he feels uncertain. Shaking it off, he says more readily, "This is a dream, so it doesn't matter what they think."

Xena nods, but hurt pings around her as she presses A.

"I guess Trevs and I will go and look for Pokémon!" Tierno finishes. Xena gets even more down on herself. They only came because they wanted to gather Pokémon. Wow, she thinks, even in Pokémon games people have ulterior motives.

Alexander is the opposite, just wanting this long speech to end. He presses A to finish it up.

"Let's go, Trevs," Tierno says. He and Trevor get up and run away. Xena sighs while Alexander rolls his eyes.

Together, Serena and Calem say, "In Kalos, kids are chosen to carry a Pokedex and go on an adventure."

Serena finishes, "But you need to give that letter to your mom before you go."

And with that the three remaining NPCs turn to look at the middle of their tables, ignoring Xena and her brother.

"Well," Xena draws out. "Bye then." She gets up and walks off towards the gate, one backwards glance at the NPCs. Alexander runs past her shouting a 'hurry up' as he goes.

As both go pass through the gate, Shauna calls out, "Alex, Xena, wait!"

Both turn as the girl runs up to them. Shauna continues, "You're going to be my opponent in my Pokémon-battling debut!" After Alexander presses A she does a little twirl. "Okay Li'l Fennekin and Froakie! It's our first battle! Let's win it with style!"

Both siblings blink. When they open their eyes all they see is a white field. Soon, it is slowly filled with the outline of the area they just were, minus any breezes or smells.

"Is it just me," Alexander starts as Shauna flicks her arm out. "Or does her saying that style bit without some emotion sound very disturbing?"

"Very," Xena whispers back. Her watch bleeps and reads the words 'You are challenged by Pokémon Trainer Shauna'. Her brother's reads the same.

'Shauna sent out Fennekin' reads Xena's watch. Shauna disappears while a small yellow and orange fox appears. To Xena's left, Alexander reads 'Shauna sent out Froakie'. To the left of Fennekin appears a blue and white frog.

"I don't think this is a double battle," Xena whispers. She takes the poke ball that has clipped to her side and releases her Froakie.

"Go Chestnut," Alexander yells as he releases his Chespin.

Xena looks to her wrist as a screen pops up. She takes her stylist and clicks the 'fight' button. Choosing to go straight to the type advantage, she clicks bubble.

"Use vine whip," Alexander shouts. Both Pokémon move toward their targets. Each lands a super effective hit, then retreats back to their position.

The opposing Fennekin uses tail whip and the opposing Froakie uses tackle.

"Dodge," Alexander shouts. Nothing happens as Froakie hits his Pokémon, lowering its HP.

"This is strange," Alexander mutters. His sister nods. "It's like the videogames."

"Maybe we are in the videogame," Xena whispers but he doesn't hear.

Two more bubbles and two more vine whips, both of Shauna's Pokémon are defeated. The siblings recall their Pokémon. The world changes in a blink once again. Now, Shauna is standing in front of them.

"You're amazing Alex, Xena," Shauna says. "Here! Let me fix up your Pokémon." She does a quick nod. "Say hi to your mom for me!" she shouts before running back to the table with Calem and Serena.

"Okay then," Xena mutters. She turns to her brother, "You want to deliver this letter now?"

"Sure," he smiles. "Race ya."

"Hey," Xena shouts as he takes off. Smiling slightly, she runs after him.

I guess this means our new adventure begins, she muses while easily catching up. The Pokémon world won't even know what hit'em.

Both fail to notice Shauna, Serena, and Calem disappear behind them. All three reappear at route two, waiting for the siblings to show up. They stand still. Their hair doesn't move in the wind as the tall grass does. Even as the evening sun flashes in their eyes, they don't blink.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.**

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Next chapter coming in a day or two**


	3. The Gum Incident

A/N: So instead of doing a separate stories for these little one-shots I'm placing them in them in here. This will work out later on, but for now it may seem a bit strange. The short tale is the Gumming Incident. This is why Xena hates pink. The ideas for this were few, so sorry if it seems 'off'. Just a little back-story, you don't have to read if you don't want to. I hope to have the next actual chapter up tomorrow. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: There is nothing with Pokemon here, but anyway I don't own Pokemon. I don't own Excel or any gum companies either. I do own Sienna (Xena) and Alexander. I guess I own Kaarlo as well, even if he's only in here.

* * *

The Gumming Incident

"How many pieces is that now," Alexander asks his friend as he sticks another pink wad of gum on the ball in front of them.

"Thirty two," Kaarlo responds as he chews his own piece of gum "I think we're almost there."

"What are you two doing," Sienna asks walking into the kitchen. Her intention is to grab the last piece of Excel to chew. She walks over to the cupboards, her back to the boys.

"Kaarlo, Sienna," Alexander motions to the girl. "Sienna, Kaarlo."

"Sup'," Kaarlo calls. Sienna waves over her shoulder.

"You guy wouldn't happen to have seen the last piece of my Excel package," she asks, turning slightly to examine the dark corners of the cupboard.

"I think it was piece five," her brother calls back.

Sienna straightens and glares. "What?"

"For our gum ball project," he and Kaarlo explain. "We have to see how many pieces create around a six centimetre diameter."

"We used all the coloured gum," Kaarlo explains, "Then moved on to pink gum."

There is a few seconds of silence, than, "You guys suck," Sienna says it so quietly that neither boy actually hears. She growls as she makes her way to the next room to check on her laundry.

"Thirty three," Kaarlo says, placing his gum on the limp stack. He takes another piece and notices there are only being two not-chewed pieces left. "I think we need more gum."

"Let's go to the store after these two pieces," Alexander says. He takes out his and states, "Thirty four."

"Ah," a shout/whine comes from the room Sienna went into. The boys look at each other, than the girl stomping out of the room. She meets their curious gazes with a glare, "Not a word."

After she leaves, the boys get up to investigate. Once opening the doors to the laundry room they see the problem.

"What's with all the pink," Alexander asks out loud. His sister gives a sob in the background, hearing him.

"It's like a paint ball exploded," Kaarlo agrees.

"That's it, get out," Sienna half-heartedly growls as she carries back the offending red shirt. "I've got to figure out how to deal with this."

The boys head back to their seats, popping out some more gum.

"Is your sister always like that," Kaarlo asks.

"Nah," Alexander says with a slight wave. "Normally you would have never seen her. She stays quiet."

Nobody notices the two pieces of semi-chewed gum sticking to a pink sock and shirt back in the laundry room.

A few hours later…

Done, Sienna thinks with a sigh. She pulls out the newly bleached load of clothing and places them in a basket together. As she does this, she doesn't notice the thread of light pink gum starting to attach to every article of clothing. Finally, she pulls out her new long sleeve white top. She slips it on to relish in the warm sensation, not feeling the light pink gum stick to her eyelashes.

She opens her eyelids. There is a white/pink line in front of both her eyes. A cold fear runs through her as she thinks it's a spider web. And where there's a spider web, a spider. She goes to lift it off her lashes, only for it to stick to her fingers. She gives a yelp and turns to head to the kitchen only to stumble into the door she didn't see, her vision being taken by the thread after all. From there she trips and falls. Both hands stick out automatically to catch her, but that causes the thread to rip a few eyelashes from her eyelid. The brown hair girl closes her eyes at the pain of having her lashes ripped out so she doesn't see the chair. Sienna's nose hits the chair with a crack. She thuds onto the floor and doesn't even have time to moan as the next thing happens.

"Oh no! Catch it!"

A hard object lands with a plop on her head. In pain, Sienna groans, "Get it off me." It comes out more like, "E i aw ee."

The object leaves her head, a few hairs leaving with it. Groaning and moaning in her head, Sienna lifts herself off from the ground. She sits cross legged and looks up to see her brother holding the gum ball they finished an hour or so ago. That land on my head, Sienna shivers in disgust and pain. She raises a hand to her throbbing nose. When she feels something wet she pulls it away.

At the same time Alexander states the obvious, "You're bleeding."

Sienna looks down at her newly bleached shirt. It mixes with the gum and starts to turn it a red-pink. Tilting her head back, because she really isn't sure which way you're supposed to tilt with a nose bleed, she tells the ceiling, "I ate ink." I hate pink.


	4. Chapter 3 Forests, Followers and Pokemon

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, Google, Legend of Zelda, or Mario Bros. They belong to their respected owners. I do own Sienna (Xena) and Alexander.

* * *

Chapter 3 Forest, Followers, and Pokémon

"Can we release our Pokémon," Alex asks in the middle of Route 1. After Sienna dodges his stationary form he uses a full puppy face on his sister.

Puppy face not very effective, "I uh, don't know," Sienna mumbles, glancing down at the Pokéball on her belt. "They never used to let us in the games."

"Except for Gold and Silver," Alex uses pouty face on Sienna. Not very effective.

"Um, I don't-" Alex uses 'heartbroken' face on his sister. Super effective, sister Sienna is defeated. "Fine," Sienna sighs and grabs her Pokéball. Alex does the same, but in a more hurried and jerky motion.

"Go Chestnut," Alex yells. Sienna flinches at the loud tone, and coughs to hide a chuckle. She presses the middle of her button the same time as her brother (a complete accident). They toss the balls into the air and watch as a red light comes out, forcing the balls back into their hands. Two Pokémon appear on the ground, looking blankly ahead.

An actual Pokémon, Alex thinks with awe. He goes and kneels in front of the unblinking Pokémon nicknamed Chestnut. Even if this is a dream, it's so cool. He brings his hand to the Pokémon's cheek; and it so real.

Sienna stares at the Froakie, who stares at her knees. She walks up and sits on her knees in front of her Pokémon. It doesn't look right, she thinks, almost like it's lifeless. She does the same as her brother, but does it with a hint of fear. Does it think? If we are in a videogame, can it think?

When her hand touches her Froakie's cheek, the Pokémon blinks. It blinks a couple times, and then shakes its head; as if to clear its thoughts. In doing this, Sienna's hand flinches away. The Froakie looks up to its trainer with wide eyes. Sienna gives a hesitant smile, with the Froakie returns with a real smile.

"Froakie," it croaks. Sienna gives a real smile and scoops it into a hug.

"You're so cute," she breathes. She cradles the Pokémon against her chest as her brother turns to her.

"How come my Pokémon isn't responding," Alex whines.

Froakie jerks when Sienna's stomach rumbles but this goes unnoticed by the two humans. Sienna leans forward and grasps Chestnut's hand. Chestnut blinks and looks towards Alex.

"Chespin," it cries and lunges itself at Alex's chest. Alex gives a laugh and smiles. Sienna rocks her Pokémon with a smile as the two start playing. All her fear is gone. They must think, she muses. They just need a little push. I wonder if it's the same with Non Playable Characters. Froakie grumbles again as Sienna's stomach makes noises again.

"Sorry," she mumbles, placing her Pokémon on the ground. She stands up and places a hand on the pokéball on her belt. "Do you mind going back inside?"

The Froakie shakes its head and she returns it. Alex and Chestnut turn to the girl, both tilting their heads in confusion.

"We need to deliver that letter," Sienna says. "I want to start on our journey. Do you mind returning to your ball," she asks the Chespin. It shakes its head, "Okay."

Alex returns his Pokémon rather reluctantly. They walk forwards, and Alex starts to talk about his Pokémon.

"That was like, super cool," he has a large smile on his face. "I wish Pokémon were real in real life. That would be awesome! Too bad this dream's probably going to end soon. Oh well, I have a tournament tomorrow, or when I wake up."

Sienna nods, growing a bit worried. She hopes this is not a dream. This is the best she's felt in a long time, both mentally and physically.

"Yah, Jerald has been really tough on us lately. I wish we didn't have land training. It's horrible, especially when it rains."

Alex feels worried, more so about the tournament the next day then what is happening now. I wonder if we'll have to do laps, he ponders while talking to his sister. All thoughts of Pokémon have left him. I hope I don't go in the breast stroke, that's my worst. Front stroke would be nice. I wonder what teams will be here this time.

As the two enter Vaniville Town Alex plays with the stylus on his watch. He pulls it out and a screen pops up. Curious, He presses the X button and another screen pops up. This one has six tags on it; Pokémon, Bag, Diary, Pokédex, Alexander, and finally Options. The Pokémon tag is new, same with the Pokedex tag. He presses Pokémon and a screen pops up with new tags, only one is filled with the name Chestnut. He presses Chestnut and five more tags appear. He presses Summary and the screen goes black.

"What are you doing" his sister asks, just noticing the silence.

"Looking at my Pokémon's summary," he explains. His sister does the same as stats appear on his screen. "My Pokémon's special ability is Overgrow, it's a boy, his Nature is Jolly, and hates to lose."

"My Pokémon is a boy," Sienna says while reading the watch. "His special ability is Torrent, his Nature is Mild and has good endurance."

"No breeding for us then," Alex jokes. Both siblings suddenly have a flash of a picture they once saw. Both shudder, "Scratch that, no way am I putting my Pokémon through daycare."

"Ditto," Sienna says without thinking. Alex chuckles dryly at that. "Oops, no pun intended."

The siblings head around the corner and spot the sleeping Ryhorn. "I wonder if we can have it," Alex wonders out loud.

"Probably," Sienna mutters. She grasps her brother's arm and pulls him gently towards the house. "Come on, "I want to get this over with and have something to eat."

"I need to pee," Alex suddenly realizes. Sienna chuckles as he races to the front door and throws it open.

The woman NPC inside turns and walks in front of the siblings. Sienna pushes her brother behind a smidge. He rolls his eyes at her protectiveness.

"So," the woman's voice is high, but monotone. "What did you and the neighborhood kids end up doing?"

"We know about your affair with the professor," Alex blurts out. Sienna blanches and looks at him. His face splits into a wide smile and he cackles, "Oh my gosh, you should have seen your face!"

"Not funny," Sienna mumbles and pouts. She presses A.

"Wait one second, Alexander, Xena! Is that a Poké ball you have there?" A button. "You got your very own Pokémon? Lucky you!"

"Wait, why did you keep us from ever getting a Pokémon," Alex asks rhetorically. "If anyone can go down to the Poké Mart and buy some Poké balls, why didn't we do that before?"

Sienna rolls her eyes and digs through her bag; thinking, just because you can doesn't mean you should. "Maybe we needed a trainer card," she says instead.

Finding the letter, because it is the only thing in her bag, she pulls it out. She sticks out the letter, which the NPC woman takes and stuffs it in her pocket.

"How about that? You're a trainer now, too! Congratulations!" A button, "Huh? A letter for me?" A button, accompanied by rolling eyes of the siblings. "It says it's from somebody named Sycamore." A button, "What could it be? A love letter?"

Both siblings stare at her as she stares back. Sienna turns her head slightly while keeping an eye on the NPC.

"Is it just me," she whispers, "or is it weird that she is supplying this affair theory we have?"

"Very," Alex says out loud.

"Just checking," Sienna turns back to the woman and presses A.

The lady turns to the side in silence. After a few seconds she speaks up, "Wow, what lovely handwriting…"

Both siblings face-palm, "I feel disgusting being here," Alex states.

"It's like watching a crime," Sienna half-heartedly presses A.

"Hmm? What do we have here? A request…"

…

"Dirty thoughts, dirty thoughts," Alex yells and bangs his head with the heel of his hand.

"Nintendo put this here," Sienna says with her face aghast. "And I thought Link's Awakening was bad."

"Oh! I see." A button, no hesitation used when pressing, "Alexander, Xena!" A button, "We've barely unpacked and all kinds of exciting things are happening." A button, "Let's get you, Chespin and Froakie ready for your journey!"

The woman goes and walks over to the wall where she stands for a few seconds. The siblings trade looks before looking back at the woman.

"I hope there's food," Sienna says after a few more seconds.

"Can she speed this up," Alex says, shifting a bit behind his sister. "I need to pee."

The woman comes back with two small cases. "Here you are, Alexander, Xena. I even packed a change of clothes." Each case is handed to its respective owner. A button, "My, what an unexpected turn of events!" A button, "It's just like a sudden last burst of speed from a racer in a Ryhorn race." A button, "You made friends! You met your Pokémon!"

"Hold on," Alex says, placing a hand over his sister's watch. "She says it like we did all of this already. We are just starting! What the heck!"

"You done," Sienna asks, look down on her brother with raised eyebrows.

"Give me a moment," Alex takes a few deep breathes, "Now I'm done."

"Okay," A button.

"And now you get to take a lap around Kalos!"

"What," Sienna asks in mock shock. "Exercises? No one said anything about exercising."

"Lazy butt," Alex says while rolling his eyes. He presses the A button.

"Oh, and don't forget this!"

The woman hands each siblings a town map.

"You know how to use a town map, right?"

"Yes," they both say. Nothing happens. Alex looks down on his key pad and presses A.

"That's my boy and girl!" A button. "Select the town map from your bag whenever you want to use it!"

"So you were going to tell us anyway," Alex sighs. "Then what was the point of the yes no question?"

"I don't know what this Professor Sycamore wants you to see on your trip…"

If she doesn't know him then there must not be any secret relationship, Alex thinks. He quickly discards that. She might just be playing dumb. Besides, how can she not know the professor of the region? It makes sense we didn't know if she didn't tell us. Con~fusing.

"But taking a journey with your Pokémon is a really wonderful experience," the woman concludes. She stands there, staring at the door as the siblings slip by her to Alex's room.

"The Kalos map is actually pretty cool," Alex says as he sits on his bed. His sister leans against the wall by his desk, "It's got pictures and everything."

"There's no food," Sienna fakes sobs. "But, what's this? A holocaster," she reads the label. "Oh, I get it. It's like the Xtransceiver, except holograms." Rummaging through her side bag a bit more, she finds what she's looking for. She looks at her brother, "Get out."

"What," he asks, confusion written all over his face. "Wait, what? Why? This is my room."

"I'm not going to the pink mess of a room and you need to go pee."

The feeling comes back to Alex, "I didn't until you said it. Fine," he storms out the room in search of a bathroom. His sister goes to the mirror.

"Finally," she whispers, pulling out the object from her pack.

Meanwhile, after finding a bathroom connected to Sienna's room, Alex looks in the mirror in his sister's room. He slips a hand down to his belt, which he isn't used to wearing, and grabs his Poké ball. Clicking and throwing the ball, Chestnut comes out in the middle of the room.

"Hey Chestnut," Alex says, leaning down and petting his Pokémon. It still feels so real, Alex thinks as he brushes its fur. "How are you?"

The Pokémon looks up in a dazed expression. It tilts its head as it stares at its trainer. I am Chestnut, the Chespin thinks. That is my trainer, Alex. I am Chestnut. I am Chestnut. I am… Its thought process slips away and its eyes grow dull. Chestnut stops thinking and goes to what its coding says. If it's not a battle, it shouldn't be out.

"What'ca doin'," Sienna asks from the doorway, her eye focused on her brother's back and not on any pink.

"I took Chestnut out," he says, turning to face her. As he turns, the Chespin touches the Poké Ball and goes back inside.

"Well it looks like he didn't want to be out," she turns her back and motions for her brother to follow. "Come on, I want to get out and find something to eat."

"What are you wearing," Alex asks, staring first at the green t-shirt, and then down at the insanely tight blue jeans.

His sister pauses, "Not a skirt." She continues down the stairs.

"I'm not changing," Alex decides to himself before he follows her down the stairs. She'll be back in a skirt by tomorrow, he chuckles. She hates skinny jeans.

"Oh look," Sienna says dryly. "The woman is still there, staring at the door."

"And that's our cue to leave," Alex says, grasping the door handle. "Let's leave and go catch some Pokémon!"

Sienna sighs and smiles. They leave the house, only to have the Ryhorn wake up. Both freeze as it comes over to them.

"No sudden movements," Sienna whispers.

"Roaaaah," the Rhyhorn shouts. It nudges Alex's hand. Said boy lightly chuckles and pets the Pokémon.

"You're a big softie, aren't you," he coons. The Rhyhorn snorts, but does nothing else.

The door slams shut behind the two as the NPC woman comes out. She gives a listless laugh, "Ha ha ha! What a card." Sienna rolls her eyes and presses the A button. "I guess Rhyhorn just wanted to give you a big send-off for your journey!" No duh, Alex thinks. He presses A, "Well, it has known you two since you were born after all!" A button. "Good luck Alexander, Xena!" A button. "Go for broke! And don't worry!" A button. "You'll have Pokémon by your side, so you'll be fine!" The woman turns and leaves. The same time the Rhyhorn does as well.

Silence, then, "I call riding the Rhyhorn," Alex shouts.

"Wait," Sienna calls, too late because Alex has already hopped over the Pokémon's head. He has a large grin on his face while Sienna sighs. "Guess it can't be helped."

"Look at me," Alex shouts, feeling a thrill at being taller than his sister. "You're so short!"

"Ha ha," Sienna rolls her eyes and watches as her brother tries to leave the yard with the Rhyhorn. It stops at the edge of the yard.

"Aw, no fair," he whines as his Ryhorn walks back over to its blanket. He climbs off and the Pokémon falls asleep. "He's almost as lazy as you."

"I resent that," Sienna says, walking up to her brother. She gives a light pat to the sleeping Pokémon.

"Whatever, if we get him I call dibs."

"Phish, sure," she smirks. Unbeknownst to Alex she makes a mental note to give him a Rhyhorn.

"Now," Alex says while taking his sister's arm. "Let's go! We've still got to get through the Pokémon catching tutorial."

"Oh help us," Sienna mumbles. A jerk to the arm and her brother has her running after him. "Wait, I can't run in these skinny jeans."

"Then you should have worn the skirt," Alex laughs at his sister's face.

As the head through the gate to Route 1, neither is there to notice how the Rhyhorn grunts and shifts once as its nightmare vanishes. It doesn't sleep, nor does it think. It just is.

;;;

"Let's go do some exploring," Alex shouts as they reach Aquacorde Town.

"Ugh," Sienna grunts as her skinny jeans chafe. "Can we do it at a brisk pace and not run about?"

Alex doesn't listen as he runs down the stairs, leaving Sienna to sigh and waddle after him. He points his left arm at the first person down at the bottom of the stairs. This person turns to him and presents an item much like to one he found in the trash.

"Here, this potion is for you! Feel free to use it," Alex takes the potion and puts it in his bag. The man says one more thing before turning away, "Potions can heal Pokémon whenever and wherever!"

"How come you get the free stuff," Sienna semi whines. She tries to get a free potion, but the man doesn't give her one.

"Because I'm cool like that," Alex states with a smirk. "Now I'm going to go exploring."

"Wait," Sienna catches her brother's arm before he takes off. "Can you promise me something?"

"Depends," comes the imminent answer.

Sienna gets a serious look on her face, "Promise me that you won't leave me alone, that you won't try to go far ahead."

A retort that he 'is the younger sibling' is on the tip of his tongue. He doesn't say anything, only agrees when he sees his sister's gaze turn pleading.

"Thanks," she breathes.

"Come on, I want to go look around."

The two go and look around. Sienna, pointing and pressing A in hopes of getting something free from the people. Alex taking in the sights as they walk past buildings. Both buy five Poké balls from the mart. They buy a lunch/dinner consisting of granola bars in the potion shop. After they decide there is nothing left to search for, they head towards the bridge.

"Should I press A," Sienna asks as they gaze towards the Camper. He stares blankly forwards, ignoring the two.

"Let's just walk down the bridge," Alex says, tugging at his sister's right arm. The two take a few steps onto the bridge when they find that they can't move forward anymore.

"Hey, Pokémon Trainers," they hear the Camper behind them yell. They turn to find if now staring blankly at them. "If you step foot in the tall grass, a wild Pokémon will pop out!"

"What is with these people and yelling," Sienna mutters as she rubs an ear. Her brother rolls his eyes in agreement and presses A.

The Camper continues, "But you'll be fine, because your Pokémon partner will battle for you!"

He stops talking and goes back to staring. The siblings look at each other, shrug simultaneously, and then walk down the bridge.

"Again," Alex starts. "Why didn't we catch a Pokémon before? If we didn't have a partner we still could have caught one."

"I hope it's not a nuzlocke," Sienna croaks. She clears her throat, "Sorry. But if it's a nuzlocke then that would explain why we couldn't catch a Pokémon without risk of death."

"What's a nuzlocke," Alex asks, slowing his stride.

His sister slows as well, "It's um, how do I explain it? Normally I'd say Google it, but we don't have Google. Well, a nuzlocke is when you can only catch the first Pokémon you see in a region. For example, catching a Rattata on Route 1 in Leaf Green but being unable to catch a Pidgey because you saw it second. And when your Pokémon 'faints' it actually dies so you have to release it. There are different rules, made by whoever is doing a nuzlocke. So, ya. I think that's it."

"I'm not doing a nuzlocke," Alex says in a deadpan voice, his sister face palms, "No way. I'm not letting go of my Pokémon even if they faint."

"If you say so," the brown hair girl mutters, knowing that if it really is a nuzlocke they won't have a choice.

A faint bleep sounds and the siblings both left their left wrists. On their watches screen reads: 'Route 2, Advance Trail'.

"And there's the tall grass," Alex points to the long green grass growing in the path, "It kind of looks like leaves."

"Should we walk," Sienna asks.

"Ladies first," Alex says, stepping aside.

"You suck," she mumbles, but walks forwards anyways. She takes a step forwards and looks as the tall grass reaches below her knees. "Okay, I can actually see the Pokémon."

"What," Alex asks and come to sand beside her, the grass coming to his knees.

"Right there," his sister points at the patch of grass in front of her. Alex looks in and notices the Pidgey lying in the middle of the grass. "And there," she points to the grass in front of her brother. It has another Pidgey laying in it.

"I guess it's time for a battle then," Alex says. He steps forward onto the square of grass and disappears, leaving his sister standing there in shock.

Sienna blinks a couple time, and then shrugs. I guess you must get warped to a different plain for battles, she thinks. Got to try not to think too hard, it's a videogame after all. She steps forward to initiate her own battle with a Pidgey. She disappears as well.

;;;

After the bright white light fades, Alex blinks to see he's now alone in a field with the Pidgey. The watch on his wrist beeps and he reads it: 'A wild Pidgey has appeared. Level three, female. Choose your Pokémon.'

"Go Chestnut," Alex shouts, releasing said Pokémon. Chestnut stands there nodding his head slightly. Alex looks at the moves on his watch, "Use Vine Whip!"

Chestnut leans down, keeping his eyes on the Pidgey. Small vines form in his hands, which grow bigger when he whips them forwards. The thin green vines shoot forwards and slap the Pidgey across the face. Its HP is lowered to just above half, as said on Alex's watch.

'The wild Pidgey used Tackle' it reads. The Pidgey runs forwards and slams its body onto Chestnut. It flutters its wings until it is back on its side. Chestnut's HP goes down by only two points.

"Vine Whip," Alex shouts. Chestnut leans down and repeats the process. Instead of hitting the face, it hits a wing and the joint connecting the wing to the body. On Alex's watch, it reads: 'Critical hit. The wild Pidgey fainted.'

The Pidgey lets out a cry and collapses on the ground, wings spread out. It shrinks and disappears on into ground.

'Chestnut gained 21 exp' Alex reads. He yells, "Good job Chestnut, return." As soon as the Pokémon is in its ball, the white light comes back and Alex is standing back in the patch of grass.

"Took you long enough," Sienna says from her on the other side of the grass. Alex notices a group of people behind her, over by the next patch of grass. She smiles and jokingly says, "What were you doing to that poor Pidgey?"

"Fainted it," Alex says, coming through the grass to meet her. "Did you battle the other Pidgey?"

"Not only that, I caught it," Sienna smirks and rolls her eyes at her brother's incredulous expression. "What, it was a girl level three. I thought, might as well catch it so you don't have to. I'm not training it, just filling up the Pokédex. And I go points for catching it."

"Seriously," Alex asks. His sister nods and Alex smiles. "Well, that makes leveling up way easier." A thought occurs, "How many Poké Balls did you use?"

Sienna looks away and murmurs something so low Alex has to ask her to repeat it, "Three."

Alex laughs and Sienna crosses her arms, stifling a sudden yawn. "It's not that funny," the yawn escapes as she tries to defend herself. "What about the time your friend used a cheat for unlimited Master Balls and the Pidgey broke free?"

Alex smiles wider and stops laughing. "Come on," he says. "It looks like Shauna, Calem and Serena are waiting for us."

Sienna follows behind her brother as they make their way over to the three people. Shauna is the first one to notice them. She calls out, "Oh! Hi Alex, Xena!" Sienna waves at the girl as her brother presses A. "Come learn how to catch Pokémon with me!" A button, "Serena and Calem's parents are amazing trainers!" A button, "That's why they know so much about catching Pokémon and battling."

"If only she knew what we know," Alex says, nudging his sister. "I bet we have more experience than both of them combined."

Sienna rolls her eyes, but doesn't say anything. We don't know this game, she wants to say. We don't know this world. I'm surprised we know how to release Pokémon from only watching the cartoon/anime. What she didn't tell her brother was that one of those Poké Balls she used completely missed the Pidgey.

Serena turns to Alex while Calem turns to Sienna. Serena says, "Well… Mom and Dad may be good, but that has nothing to do with me."

While Calem says, "You can talk about my parents if you want, but it doesn't have anything to do with me."

"Well," Sienna whispers to her brother. She still isn't used to the fact that can't hear her. "Somebody has parent issues."

"I bet their father is a gym leader," Alex says. They both press A.

Serena says, "Ok, now watch carefully, you two."

Calem says, "I'm going to show you how to catch one now, so watch carefully!"

"How come you got the nice one," Sienna whines to her brother. "If Calem starts yelling at me I might start crying. This is a Pokémon game for goodness sake."

Alex just stuck out his tongue and said, "What can I say? I've just got good karma."

Each sibling watches as the other two trainers walk into the grass. A white light blinds them as they get sent to different plains. Sienna watches as Calem catches a wild Bunnelly. Alex watches as Serena catches a wild Bunnelly as well.

Both trainers send out a Fletching, much to Alex's horror. Why did she have to have that Pokémon, he moans in his head? Both Fletchings use Tackle and lower the Bunnelly's health. The wild Pokémon attacks with Leer and lowers the defence. Each trainer gives a tip on lowering the wild Pokémon's health, causing the both the brown hair and the red hair siblings to roll their eyes. The Trainers reach into their bags and pull out a Poké Ball. They use it and catch wild Bunnelly's. Everything goes white and then the siblings appear next to each other, as if nothing ever happened.

"Wow! The Pokémon went INSIDE the Poké Ball," Shauna shouts. Both siblings face palm.

"Is she stupid," Alex asks. "Is she really that stupid, or just having a dumb moment?"

"You live in a Pokémon world," Sienna says to Shauna, forgetting she can't hear her. "And you don't know that a Pokémon goes into a ball?"

"Is her stupid rubbing off on you Sienna," Alex asks, going up on his tip toes to try and feel her forehead. "You do realize they can't hear you."

"Sorry," Sienna says, moving away from his hand. "I had a stupid moment."

"S'okay," Alex says, pressing the A button.

Calem and Serena both walk over to Shauna. Calem says, "Seriously, Shauna? Did you forget already?"

Serena then says, "Shauna, what did you think your Fennikin and Froakie are inside of right now?"

"Anyways," Calem says, "I'll share some Poké Balls with you two."

Serena says, "Here, I'll share some Poké Balls with the two of you."

Alex takes the Poké Balls that Serena gives and places them in his bag. He turns to see his sister placing hers away. Calem has a weird expression on his face, which only Alex takes notice to. Why isn't he giving Shauna some Poké Balls, Alex wonders? Why is he staring at my sister like he's just noticing her? Gosh, I need relax. This dream will go however it's going. Nothing I can do about it.

"Poké Balls," Shauna shouts, causing everyone to focus back at her. All thoughts about what just happened flee from Alex's mind as he focuses on the cut scene.

;;;

"Do you think I can catch Pokémon with them, too," Shauna continues. Xena looks up from her bag to see everyone staring at the girl. Ouch, she thinks. I could never have that many stares on me.

"Sure," Serena says after Alexander presses A. "You can catch the Pokémon around here just by throwing a Poké Ball near them."

"It doesn't work," Xena whispers to her brother. "You have to have the Poké Ball actually hit them before it works."

"Speaking from experience," her brother says, raising his eyebrows. Calem glances over at the two.

"Maybe," Xena coughs. She presses the A button next.

"Ok! If I find a cute Pokémon, I'll throw lots of Poké Balls at it, and then we'll become friends," Shauna says in a rush.

"I don't think she understands the concept of Poké Balls," Alexander says dryly.

"She'll learn," Xena says uncertainly. She catches Calem furrowing his eyebrows, "Hopefully."

"When you catch a wild Pokémon," Serena says, "it makes your Pokémon stronger, too."

"Isn't that nice," Alexander mutters with a smirk.

"Good luck," Serena says after Alexander presses A. She and Shauna run off through the grass and into a dense forest area.

Calem turns to the siblings. He gives a small nod and then runs after his sister.

"Well, okay then," Alexander says. "Was it just me or was that weird? I mean no goodbye from anyone?"

Xena nods, "Yeah," but that is the most emotion I've seen. She doesn't say that out loud, not sure if her brother has noticed the vacant expressions. But when Calem looked into my eyes, I thought I saw something. She shakes it off, "Come on, and don't fret about it. Do you want to catch some Pokémon or follow them to that forest?"

The two make it through the grass, dodging Pokémon that they see. Xena resists the urge to catch them, especially when she sees the Zigzagoon. Alexander almost flips out when he sees a bunch of Fletchings spread throughout the grass.

When they reach the path to the forest, Xena calls out, "Wait, I want to try something." Xena takes her brother's right hand and walks towards the waiting Youngster.

"When two Trainers' eyes meet," the Youngster says, coming up to the two siblings, "a Pokémon battle must begin!"

The Youngster reaches and touches Xena's free arm. A white light blinds both siblings. When it clears, both are standing in another plain with 'Youngster Austin' (according to their watches) standing across from them. Youngster Austin lets out two Zigzagoons.

"So we both get to battle him," Xena muses.

"Don't take too long," Alex shouts from his place on the plain, a few meters away from her. "I want to catch up to the others! Go Chestnut!"

Xena smiles at her brother's enthusiasm. She lifts her Poké Ball containing Froakie. "Let's go," she whispers before clicking the center and releasing him.

;;;

"Serena," Calem says. "Do you know who those people were?"

A part of him is saying that he knows them. He's never seen them before, how could he know them. Calem, usually calm and collected, is confused and letting it show. Something is telling him to forget is worries and just stop thinking. It's strong, and the feeling makes it all he wants to do. Too bad Calem would rather get the answers.

"Serena," he asks again. His sister just stands there, staring blankly at nothing. "What's wrong?"

Suddenly, all the energy he had leaves him. Calem's mind shuts down and he becomes thoughtless once again. He just stands there, staring at nothing like his sister.

;;;

'Chestnut grew to Level 7'

'Froakie grew to Level 7'

"Yes," Alex cheers. He does a small fist pump. "I'm one more step closer to being the Champion!"

Sienna chuckles, "If you say so, Alex."

They both collect their prize money in their bags and walk towards the entrance of the forest. I want to take Chestnut out, Alex thinks. I wonder if Sienna would mind.

As if she's reading his mind, the brown hair girl goes, "There will be so many Pokémon in here, I don't want to risk letting my Pokémon out."

"Please Sienna," Alex begs. "I really want to play with him."

"How about when we get to the next town," she suggests. Alex rolls his eyes and begrudgingly agrees. He needs to heal his Pokémon anyway.

Their watches bleep and read: 'Santalune Forest'. They only make it a few paces in when they hear someone call out behind them.

"Wait up," Shauna shouts from behind them. They turn and she continues as she walks up, "Let's walk together!" A button, "I feel like something exciting will happen if I stay by you!" A button, "I'll heal your Pokémon whenever you want me to!"

After another press of the A button, Alex smiles and points and clicks at her. She turns to him and asks, "You want me to heal your Pokémon, Alex?" Alex says 'yes', "Ok, I'm on it!"

Sienna repeats the process. She then turns to her brother, "You know what this means?"

"No," he leans away from the slightly evil look on her face.

"Heal abuse," she shouts. It sounds strange in the quiet forest. "It's time to level grind!"

The red head smirks, "Whoever gets to level ten first gets to battle the gym leader first?"

"Deal," they run off to different directions. After picking up and obvious potion, Sienna calls back to her brother, "And make sure you don't move on in the story!"

"I won't," he laughs. He runs to a different part on the left side of the forest as his sister runs behind him. He finds and picks up another potion. He turns around just in time to see her disappear. Blinking in shock, and completely ignoring Shauna who has been following them, he goes over to where she disappeared. After a minute of worrying, his sister reappears.

She gives him a peace sign, "I just caught a Weedle."

"You disappeared," he says accusingly.

"Yah," she nods slowly. "That's what happens when you battle a wild Pokémon."

There are a few seconds of silence, and then Alex races off to the grass and jumps on a square with a Pokémon. He disappears and Sienna shakes her head with a smile.

A few more battles, Sienna catching a Pansear and Alex catching a Panpour, and Alex wins the competition by a few seconds.

"If I didn't catch that Scatterbug," Sienna grumbles as Shauna finishes healing her Pokémon.

"But you did," Alex keeps smirking. "And I won."

"Let's just get through this forest now," Sienna yawns. "I'm getting tired."

"Disappearing takes a lot out of you," Alex says, walking to the right of the forest.

"True that," Sienna agrees. She shifts through her bag while walking, "I've now got an Antidote, seven Poké Balls and a potion. What do you have?"

"Fourteen Poké Balls, and three potions," Alex says, looking at the bag app on his watch, "Level four Panpour and Level ten Chestnut."

"Are you keeping the Panpour," his sister asks.

"Maybe," is his reply. "Hey, look! There are the others!"

Alex runs ahead leaving Sienna to uncomfortably jog after him. Her jeans are still chafing.

"Santalune Forest, huh," Serena asks over her shoulder as she runs through the forest. Her brother follows, mimicking the siblings behind them, "Might be a good place to test my skills."

Calem calls over his shoulder, "I could make my way through a forest like this in my sleep."

Trevor bends down in the grass to the left of the path. He mutters, "First, I'll observe."

Tierno is standing over to the right of the path, talking with a Youngster, "A battle?!"

The siblings run past, Sienna giving small waves that nobody responds to, and follow Serena and Calem.

"Oh," Shauna shouts, causing the brown and red hair siblings to stop. Sienna goes to dodge Alex and trips. She lands face first on the ground. Alex helps her back up as Shauna continues like nothing is wrong; "Hang on a second, Alex, Xena!" Shauna runs into the patch of grass on the right of Alex, behind Sienna. She reaches down and then runs to the siblings, saying, "Look what I found Alex, Xena! I'll give it to you!" Sienna dusts herself off while Alex presses A. "I love puzzle, so I watch things more closely than you might think!" She hands each sibling a Paralyze Heal. They put it in a pouch in the bag labelled Medicine.

"She may yell a lot," Alex says, walking forwards again. "Put I guess she's handy."

"Be nice," Sienna scolds. "She just gave us a Paralyze Heal."

"I'll be nice when she stops killing my ear drums."

He takes his sister's hand and drags her to the next Pokémon Trainer, Youngster Joey. He has two Level three Scatterbugs and two Level three Fletchings. These are taken down easily by Chestnut and Froakie.

They collect their prize money after coming back to the forest. As they walk, Tierno says, "Pokémon appear in the tall grass."

I feel like I'm surrounded by idiots sometimes, Alex thinks. He sees his sister sigh, "You as tired of this intro stuff as I am?"

"Yep," she answers. She then points her left arm at him and presses A.

"I wonder what kind of dance works best for a crew with Pokémon in it," Tierno continues.

"At least he is pretty chill for a dancer," Sienna says as the walk away, taking care to avoid Pokémon. "I know tons who hate me for even looking at them. Granted, I did walk in when they were watching a scary movie night and the killer snuck up behind the group."

"What about Cassidy," Alex asks. "She's nice."

"When she isn't late for dance, yes," Sienna gives a smile at the memory.

"Do you need any more Poké Balls," Serena and Calem's voices cut through and surprise the siblings. Alex gives a small laugh and walks up to Serena, pressing the A button.

"Here," she hands him a Poké Ball. Sienna goes up to Calem, points and presses A.

"Here," he says. He sounds bored, Alex thinks. Why does Sienna have a sad look on her face?

For a second, that sad look is there when she realizes that Calem is back to being emotionless. It goes away quickly when she says thank you and her and Alex walk away. Alex rolls his eyes at his sister's sudden mood change. They walk away, holding hands as they go to battle Lass Anna.

After returning and getting their prize money, they heal with Shauna and head down the path. Alex spots a Pikachu in the grass and goes to the patch. Sienna rolls her eyes as her brother disappears. She walks over to a Pansage to catch it for herself.

Alex blinks to clear his eyes as he enters the plain. A loud 'Pika' makes him turn his attention to the yellow mouse Pokémon across the field. His face splits into a grin as he looks at the Pikachu, only to falter when he spots the heart shaped end of its tail.

"You've got to be kidding me," he shouts, burying his face in his hands. "A female? The first Pikachu I find and it's a female?"

He debates his options. This is the first Pikachu I've yet to see, so that must mean they're rare. He checks his watch. It's at Level four, so it's higher level than most in the forest. I'll do it; I'll try and catch it.

"Go Chestnut," Alex shouts, releasing his Pokémon. Chestnut nods his head on the battlefield, waiting for orders.

"Chestnut use Tackle," Alex shouts. Chestnut runs up to the Pikachu and slams into it. He doesn't become paralyzed, even when Pikachu retaliates with Thunder Shock. Alex throws a Poké Ball. It lands a little bit short, but bounces off the ground and onto the Pikachu. The Pokémon gets swallowed by the red light from the ball. The ball drops onto the ground where it shakes once… twice… three times… and finally clicks.

"Yes," Alex does a small happy dance. He returns Chestnut and grabs the Poké Ball from the ground. "I got a Pikachu! I'm going to name you -" he actually draws a blank on the name. All the names he had ready for a Pikachu were male names. "Actually I don't know what to name you." He looks down at the red and white ball, "How about Carleen? Yeah, that'll work."

His Pokédex updates as his vision goes white. When it clears, his sister is standing off to the side, looking at her Pokémon's summaries. Alex checks his as his sister speaks up.

"So, what did you decide to leave me for," she asks. Alex feels a pang of guilt.

"Sorry I left so suddenly," he busies himself with looking at his Pikachu's summary. His sister leans over his shoulder to look.

"A Pikachu," she says, mildly surprised. "A girl Level four, Naughty in nature, and likes to fight." Good luck training that, she thinks but doesn't add.

"Sorry for leaving," Alex says a second time. "I won't do that again."

Sienna is quiet, then says, "Well see." She walks out of the grass, her brother trailing behind her. She stops and turns towards a Lass. "You go first, I want to try something?"

"Why me," Alex grumbles, but still does as she says. He walks in front of the Lass, who imminently goes up to him. He goes to the next plain, his sister nowhere in sight. With a small sigh, he then yells out, "Go Chestnut!"

"Sorry I'm late," Sienna says, popping beside her brother.

"How did you get here," he asks, turning his head slightly to acknowledge her, "Use Vine Whip!"

"You didn't disappear," she explains as Chestnut hits Lass Lise's Weedle. "You just stand still. I touched your shoulder and was zapped here."

"Cool," Alex says with a grin. It wipes away as he flinches when Lass Lise sends out a Level four Bunnelby. "Aw, I was hoping to send out Carleen."

"Who's Carleen," Sienna asks as Chestnut faints this Pokémon as well.

"My Pikachu," Alex returns Chestnut.

"I've got to keep battling and training up my really awesome Pokémon team," Lass Lise yells from across the field.

The siblings find themselves back in the forest. Sienna speaks up, "Well, I'm going to get that Poké Ball over there." She takes a step in front of Lass Lise, who challenges her to a battle. "Uh, why," Sienna groans. She gives a small wave to her brother before Lass Lise touches her. Sienna falls into a trance of sorts and relaxes.

Well that's creepy, Alex thinks as he goes to pick up the item on the ground. It's a Poké Ball, now that's even creepier. Alex goes over to his sister. Shauna stands off to the side, staring blankly at nothing. He pokes his sister's arm, only to not be able to draw away. Instead, he gets transported to the plain where his sister is giving the final blow to Bunnelby.

"Took you long enough," she complains as she returns her Pokémon. Froakie levels up to Level eleven. "What, did you steal the item?"

"Maybe," is Alex's reply.

Sienna sighs and rolls her eyes. They get transported back to the forest, "Well, what was it?" She collects her prize money as her brother answers.

"A Poké Ball," Sienna pauses putting the money away when she hears that.

"Well that's strange; I was just thinking it's about time we found one on the ground."

"Way to jinx me," Alex says. Sienna loops an arm around his shoulder.

"No problem Alex," she smirks at as he sticks out his tongue. "Now what do you say to getting rid of little miss healer? I think her job of being our personal Nurse Joy is done."

"I say let's do it," he glances back at Shauna who is following a few steps behind. "It's becoming creepy."

Sienna scoops a potion that is lying on the ground as they walk by. She nearly has a heart attack when Shauna speaks up, "I really want to catch a Pikachu but I haven't run into a single one…"

Sienna snorts. Alex subconsciously rubs a finger over Carleen's ball. Maybe Pikachu's really are rare here, he ponders. I guess I got really lucky then.

"She only wants cute Pokémon," Sienna says in a whisper, as if not to have Shauna overhear. "I would find it insulting if she believes the only cute Pokémon in this forest are Pikachu."

"What is the plural of Pikachu," Alex asks. "Pikachus? Pikachi? Or is it just Pikachu?"

"I don't know, and I don't really want to know," Sienna say while nudging her brother forwards. A yawn escapes her mouth, "I just want to lie down for a while."

"Lazy butt," Alex accuses. Sienna rolls her eyes and stifles another yawn.

The two finish making it through the last patch of grass and dodge the Pokémon throughout. They walk to the end of the path and stop as Serena and Calem sprint pass them.

"So, you're the first to arrive," Serena whispers. After the press of the A button she speaks louder, "Looks like my new neighbor is someone with a lot of potential."

Tierno and Trevor run up on the other side of the red and brown hair siblings. Tierno speaks, "The way Pokémon move – it's just incredible! I want to show off some of that spirit when I dance!"

A button and then Trevor speaks, "Tierno…" A button, "Could you think about something besides how Pokémon move for once," Sienna twitches at that but it goes unnoticed by the people next to her. Alex presses A.

Shauna runs between Calem and Alex and stands at the top. She shouts, "We're all here! Let's go to Santalune City!"

Everyone stands around, waiting for the siblings to move. Sienna turns to Alex, "Are you ready?"

"Yep," he smiles and then rolls his eyes. "Do you have any idea how much you sounded like Midna? 'Talk to me when you're ready to leave.'"

"Thank you, I do try."

"Come on Luigi, 'let's-a go'!"

"It's because I'm taller right?"

The NPCs ignore this whole interaction. As the two bickering siblings move forwards, they do as well. Together, they all leave the forest behind.

;;;

Lass Lise blinks and looks around the forest.

"I could have sworn I dropped a Poké Ball somewhere around here," she whispers to herself. Looking at the ground she spots nothing. She feels the call to go back to not thinking. Sighing to herself, she uses whatever time she has left to admire the trees and soft warm wind blowing on her face. A nice smile crosses her face, making her look less scary than the other Lasses and Youngsters in the forest. As she loses her thought process, the smile stays as a reminder of what happen. It doesn't affect the game's coding, just addes the certain detail to the Lass.

;;;

Youngster Austin stands and looks at the sky. He reflects on his motivations, what made him want to become a Pokémon Trainer. He left home a few years ago and caught his Zigzagoon. This disappointed his parents because they wanted him to continue school and get a paying job. It's times like this when he really stops and wonders if it was all worth it.

Wait, Austin pauses in his thinking. Did I have two Zigzagoons when battling? No, he quickly shakes it off. It must have been a dream.

Using the energy to think, Austin becomes a thoughtless NPC once more. He is left standing there on Route 2, a depressed look on his face. The program turns his face back to a blank look, as there should be no sadness shown on its Non Playable Characters.

* * *

A/N: Well, how was it? This was a long chapter but I couldn't think to split it. Thanks for reading.

I won't be able to post the next real chapter for awhile. I'm hoping to have a short one-shot for Xena done sometime this weekend, this one will be about what happened the night with the horror movie. Hopefully you'll enjoy.

Again, thanks to all those who read this. Enjoy your day!


	5. Dancers, Horror Movies

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon (none in this chapter), any horror movies, or the Hunger Games. I do own Sienna (Xena), Alexander (not in this chapter), and the other OCs in here.

A/N: I apparently can't do long one-shots. This is another short one on Xena. It means to hold a hint at later chapters, so it doesn't need to be read. It's just something fun. The next real chapter should come before Christmas, if not on Christmas.

Enjoy!

* * *

The Dancers' Horror Night

They couldn't do anything but watch as the person they had come to known stumbles away. The few that had come to like her were silently calling for her to run. Others, those that couldn't stand her, were rooting for the villain to get up. Their prayers are answered.

Very slowly the white masked killer sits up. He grabs the knife that his idiot target dropped and stands up. Walking all the way, he raised the knife and-

"AHHH!"

The screams of the eight girls echo through the living room as the killer of horror movie claims another victim. All breathe hard, a few pretending they aren't scared by the sudden death on the television. Others are just frightened by the screams of their friends.

"That wasn't scary," Cassidy, a long blonde hair girl, says weakly. She sits on the middle couch directly center to the TV.

"Are you kidding," Julie shouts. "I nearly peed myself!" She sits on the ground on Cassidy's left.

"That," Encarna states, "was the second scariest moment of my life."

"Yah," Milica drawls from her spot farthest left of Cassidy. She recovers faster than her friends, "All that screaming, my ears will never feel the same again."

Maeve and her twin Caoilinn stay silent from their positions on the far right sofa. Maeve curls her legs up, the only sign she's scared, causing Anima to slide further. "Hey," the small purple hair girl snaps as her backrest leaves. "It wasn't that bad Maeve!"

"Says the girl who picks for the villain's side," says Itumeleng. She sits on the ground by Caoilinn's feet.

"If the main characters would stop being so stupid," Anima spits as the main character drops her weapon again, "then maybe I wouldn't be so inclined to vote for the villain."

Meanwhile, in the kitchen the microwave finally beeps. Xena smiles and take out the freshly popped popcorn. She places it into one large bowl, relishing in the smell. She takes the bowl and makes her way out to the living room where her dance friends are watching television. They were going to pick a movie, Cassidy's choice since she won rock-paper-scissors, while she made popcorn. Oddly enough, they all screamed at the same time the microwave buzzer went off. Xena carries the large bowl into the dark living room. She notices the scary movie playing, but not what's happening on the screen as she makes her way over to the empty space beside Maeve.

Xena holds out a hand to tap Maeve on the shoulder, to see if she wants popcorn.

The killer on TV reaches out a hand to pull his unsuspecting target into his newly acquired knife (newly acquired for the fourth time). He pulls the person back.

Xena grasps Maeve's shoulder to shake her a little.

"AHHH!"

Everyone screams, Maeve the loudest. Xena jumps back and run to turn the lights on. When the lights flash on, everyone stops and stares at each other.

"Something touched me," Maeve cries, hugging her legs tighter to her chest.

"Sorry Maeve," Xena says coming closer to comfort her friend. She holds the undisturbed popcorn bowl beside her friend. "I didn't mean to scare you, just ask if you wanted popcorn."

Maeve sniffs and grabs a handful of popcorn, which none surprisingly fell to the ground when Xena jumped. Cassidy moans and Caoilinn rolls her eyes. Everyone else groans at the false scare.

"Now that that's over," Cassidy says, pointedly looking at Xena. Xena looks away and passes the popcorn bowl. "The movie I picked was the Hunger Games. In honour of our last sleep over together."

"Wow," Anima says rolling her eyes. "Way to kill my horror mood."

That night was over a month ago. That is the last time Xena will ever see her friends in the same room together again.

* * *

A/N: This story has it's first follower! Thank you for reading this story, it means a lot to know that some are enjoying this.

Food for thought, Xena was a dancer but doesn't do it any more. Hm...


	6. Chapter 4 A Night's Rest in a Never End

Chapter 4 A Night's Rest in a Never Ending Day

After walking through the end of the forest, a large space of area appears. There is a space of water on the far left and 'tall' grass on the left and right of the path further up. A few trees are scattered along the path but most boarder the area around it, blocking stragglers for entering.

The watches on Alexander and Xena's wrists make a bleep. They read: 'Route 3, Ouvert Way'.

"What are you all going to do," asks Shauna as everyone forms a circle. Shauna is to Alexander's left, who is left of Xena. To the right of Xena is Trevor, and to his right is Tierno. In between Tierno and Shauna are Serena and Calem.

"Why, look for Pokémon of course," Trevor answers. Alexander rolls his eyes and presses A. "The professor did ask us to complete the Pokédex after all."

"Oh my gosh, not another one," Alexander groans. Xena can't help but nod. "The only person who actually uses the Pokédex is Ash."

"And whoever he's with," Xena pipes up. She shrinks back embarrassed as her brother throws her a semi-glare.

"Whatever," he presses A.

"And furthermore," Trevor continues, causing Alexander to groan again, "different Pokémon prefer living in different places." A button, "To put it another way, it's a chance to find different Pokémon than," A button, "the ones in the forest!"

"I'll bet different Pokémon use different moves," Tierno says after Xena presses the A button,

"Uh, duh," Alexander says. Xena cracks a smile as she presses A.

"I sure want to see lots of moves," Tierno finishes.

"What are you going to do Calem, Serena," Shauna asks. Is she ignoring us on purpose, Xena wonders, if she is, ouch?

Serena says, "I'm going to go to the Santalune City's Gym and challenge the Gym leader."

Calem says, "I'm going to go to the Santalune City's Gym and take on the Gym leader."

"I forgot how creepy it is when they do that," Alexander says. He presses A next.

Serena says, "You see, Pokémon Trainers find out how good they really are by challenging the," A button, "Leaders in Pokémon Gyms."

Calem says, "So you know, Pokémon Trainers test their strength by battling the Gym leaders," A button, "in each Pokémon Gym."

"Wow," Shauna says. "You sure know a lot!"

"I thought everyone knew this," Alexander complains.

"Apparently not," Xena whispers dryly. "I guess these kids didn't go to Pokémon School."

"It's because Mom and Dad taught me so much," Serena says, turning directly to Shauna.

Calem follows her lead, but instead says, "I learned a lot from others."

"Well," Alexander claps his hands together, causing Xena to jump from fright. "Now we know who has the bigger parent issues out of the two."

"Who, Calem," Alex nods and Xena tilts her head, thinking. "I guess you're right. It seems Serena is trying to live up to her parents while Calem just wants to be his own person. It's kind of like a Pokémon version of Grease lightening."

"What," Alexander asks, incredulous.

"Well, uh, Calem's got this better-than-you, bad boy act, while Serena doesn't, eh, smoke," the last part sounds like a question. "You know what, never mind. It made more sense in my head."

"Sure," Alex draws out the ur sound. He presses A as Xena lowers her head in embarrassment.

"Here," both Serena and Calem say together. "I have something for you guys – "Adventure Rules.""

"Oh come on," Alexander moans. "Rules? Seriously? This is Pokémon, where the only rule is don't join the evil team of the series!"

"There, there Alex," Xena pats her brother's back. "I'm sure it isn't too bad. Just something to get us started."

"I hope you're right," he mutters before grabbing the paper from Serena. Xena does the same, only with Calem.

"I wrote down 10 different tips every Trainer should know," Serena and Calem say at the same time. Xena and Alexander skim the pages. Xena presses A, "Here's one for you."

Xena and Alexander look at each other, than at Serena and Calem who have their hands stretched out as if to give something. "Oops," Xena says. "Guess we weren't supposed to take them until now."

"I think we'll be fine," Alexander says. He gives Serena a high five and she retracts her hand,

Xena gives a high five (or low five as his hand is down) to Calem. After the slap of skin on skin, Calem retracts his hand with a confused look on his face.

Serena speaks to the circle, "If you're puzzled about something, try looking at these rules." Calem looks over at his sister, a dull look entering his face again. After pressing A, Serena runs off. Calem turns to the group. Xena gives a small wave, which he returns with a smirk before his face falls flat once again. He turns and races after his sister.

Well, Xena thinks to herself, that was odd. I wonder why he acted like that all of a sudden.

She doesn't have long to ponder as Shauna speaks right after, "Oh, This is great!" A button, "I'm going to spend some time getting to know my Li'l Fennikin and my Li'l Froakie." A button, "What are you going to do Alex, Xena?"

Both siblings check their watches. "Well that's great," Alexander says sarcastically. "She asked a rhetorical question. What are we going to do?"

Xena opens her mouth to answer, but is cut off by a yawn. When it's finished, she says, "Get some sleep. I'm so tired I think I could fall asleep standing."

"Okay, let's go," Alexander marches forwards, only to stop. "Where should we go?"

"To the Pokémon Center," Xena gives another yawn. "At least there I can fall asleep on the couch, if need be."

The siblings hold hands as they battle the trainers on the route, wanting this to be over as soon as possible. They battle Preschooler Oliver, whose Caterpie is taken down by Carleen the Pikachu and Froakie, and whose Azural is also fainted by Chestnut the Chespin and Froakie. They battle against Preschooler Ella and her Pichu. By the time they reach the bottom of the stairway, Xena is huffing and puffing.

"Coming through," a random NPC calls. Xena, who is too tired to move, gets shoved to the side and falls on her buttock.

"Come on," she wheezes. Why was I the one pushed? No, I shouldn't think like that. "I thought this was a non-human violence game."

"Because Team Plasma can kick a Munna, but when a person gets in the way they have to stop because they're scared of going to jail," Alexander says sarcastically while helping his sister up. He drops her arm, causing her to fall again when something catches his eye. "Is that a raspberry bush?"

"Ow," Xena moans on the ground. She gets up and rubs her sore torso, making her way over to her brother, "I'd say no." She points and presses A. Her watch reads that they need a Pokémon that knows Cut to clear the way. "Why did you notice this bush?"

"Because I thought those were raspberries," Alexander says. He pouts as he shows the red underside of the leaves. "That sucks."

"Oh well," Xena tugs on her brother's arm. She stifles another yawn. "Let's get to the Pokémon Center. I'm exhausted."

"Oh," Alexander pulls his sister's arm another way off the path. "Let's go down here!"

"Neh," Xena grunts but her brother doesn't hear. Xena dozes as she gets dragged into another Pokémon battle. She snaps out of her daze as she blinks away the white, meaning the entrance to another plain.

They battle Schoolgirl Bridget, the first black girl they've seen. After that, Alexander picks up the Super Potion lying on the ground. They walk through the grass, dodging Pokémon, and finally battle Schoolboy Brighton.

After that they finish walking through the route, Xena almost shuffling forwards now, Alexander presses A on the little girl near the end of the path. Both siblings bend down to her height, not by choice, and listen to what she says. Pops and cracks sound from Xena's leg as she bends.

"I went to the Pokémon Center 'cause I was asked to buy Poké Balls," she says in a bored tone.

Both siblings stand up straight, Alexander asking, "Do people pay children to do their bidding in this game?"

"I should hope not," Xena says as they finally reach the gate to the city. Their watches bleep and read: 'Santalune City'. "People need to get up and do it themselves. But a Pokémon game that has children working for an adult? Gee, where have I heard that before?"

"Her parents might have been the ones to ask," Alexander points out. "Don't jump to conclusions."

"I'm tired," Xena says bluntly. She gazes at the Pokémon Center with a scornful/hopeful look. "Deal with it."

They walk into the Pokémon Center, which looks much more different from the usual in other games. As they walk in, Tierno appears behind them.

"Oh," he exclaims. "Hey there, Alex, Xena!" Xena groans at the delay to her sleep. Alexander chuckles at her pain and presses A, "Are you here to get your Pokémon healed, to?" A button, "Pokémon Centers sure are great." A button, "You can talk to the lady at the counter and have her heal your Pokémon."

"Hold on," Xena says, thinking muddled. "If he knows she can heal, shouldn't he know her name's Nurse Joy? And how does he know she can heal if he knows about as much about Pokémon as Shauna? Uh," she clutches her head. "Ignore me, I confused."

"You can ever deposit the Pokémon you've caught in that PC," Tierno continues. "Know how Pokémon are sent to a PC when you've caught more than you can carry?" A button, "That's where they go!" Tierno does a little dance and twirls around before continuing. "Oh ya, Alex, Xena!" A button, "There's a Poké Mart at the back of the Pokémon Center." Alexander's happy about that; Xena is not as she misses the old separate buildings. "It's a good idea to stock up on Poké Balls and Potions and stuff at the Poké Mart, too." A button and Tierno walks to their right.

"Well," Xena says to her brother. "You want to go first?"

"Ladies first," he steps aside and motions her first. Xena rolls her eyes, but it's caught by the yawn that escapes. "On second thought, I'll go first."

She watches as Alexander walks up to the Nurse, points, and presses A. Nurse Joy speaks in a pleasant tone, surprising and pleasing Xena. It's different from the monotone voices she's gotten used to hearing, "Good night! Welcome to the Pokémon Center. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?" Alexander says 'yes' and hands her his three Poké Balls, "Ok. I'll take your Pokémon for a few seconds then."

Nurse Joy places the Poké Balls in the machine behind her. It ovals around and his Poké Balls get place in three circular indents. A few seconds of silence, and then she takes them off and hands them back. "Thank you for waiting," she says. Alex places them back on his belt, "We've restored your Pokémon to full health." Alex presses A and Nurse Joy bows, "We hope to see you again."

Xena goes next. Instead of saying yes she presses the yes button on her watch. She gives the nurse six Poké Balls. They don't touch in the transfer, both giving and receiving. Xena quickly clicks her Pokémon in place and gives a small 'thank you' to the Nurse. She then makes her way over to the couches in the left corner of the building. One couch has two children on it, the couch next to it is empty and the one perpendicular from that, under the window with thin blinds, is empty as well. Xena lies down on the one perpendicular. She looks up at a clock over top of a TV, right next to the open blinds.

"It's nine at night," Xena says. "And it's still sunny. Why couldn't it be like Unova?"

"Go to sleep Sienna," Alexander says, lying down himself. "Good night."

"Good night Alex," she whispers. After a few minutes both siblings fall asleep from exhaustion. Alexander is the first to have a dream, waking up only to fall asleep again. Xena wakes up after her dream. She falls asleep once realizing that it's midnight. They both wake up in the morning not remembering what happened the night before.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or Grease Lightening.

A/N: This story has been favourited! Thank you so much and I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Writing this chapter was a pain. I'm not big on writing battle scenes so I didn't do it this time. Nothing to big really happened, but it gives away a few details. Turns out in the game it really does change between night and day, but in this story it doesn't. The Pokemon for night will come out, it's just sunny all the time. _  
_

I'm hoping to have the chapters for Xena and Alex's dreams up before the New Year. Those will be Crossover chapters and will be important later, but not so much now.

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Have a wonderful winter


	7. Alex's Dream (Mario Crossover)

Alex's Dream (Mario Crossover)

Alex has his eyes closed as he lies on his back. His breathing is even, but he knows that his sister will be waking him up soon. He has to go to school and has to get up early to catch the bus.

"Are you okay," a soft voice asks. Alex imminently assumes it to be his sister. Footsteps sound as the person comes closer, "Hey, I asked if you were alright."

Alex shifts and mumbles, "Five more minutes Sienna."

A pause, then, "I'm not Sienna."

Alex's eyes snap open. The first thing he sees is a girl, no older than fifteen, staring down at him. He sits up quickly and examines his surroundings. This is not the Pokémon Center, Alex thinks mutely as he takes in the empty field he's standing in, and it definitely isn't my room.

"Excuse me," Alex turns to the girl, who now looks annoyed at him. "I asked if you were okay."

"Yes, thanks," he says automatically. He blinks and takes in the girl. She has silky blonde hair tied up into a ponytail. She is slim and ripped with muscular arms, shown because she is wearing a t-shirt. She is also wearing small shorts and a headband. There is a tennis racket in one hand. Her blue eyes stand out against her pale skin. "Who are you? And where am I?"

"Where were you before," she asks, holding out a hand for him to take. Alex does and the girl easily pulls him up.

"I just fell asleep in a Pokémon Center," he pauses, blinks, and then continues. "Is this like Inception? Am I having a dream inside a dream?"

"That was a good movie," the girl nods. She walks away, but motions Alex to follow. "Did you ever see it?"

"No," Alex admits with a shrug. "My sister Sienna did. She summed it up for me."

"So that's who you called," the girl asks. "When you woke up I mean."

"Yah," Alex scratches his head. He watches the trees go bye as the girl expertly navigates the forest. "Can you please answer my questions?"

"Oh, sorry," the girl apologizes. "You're in the Mario world right now."

"Wait," Alex stops walking. "What?"

"Don't stop," the girl snaps. Alex rushes to catch up to her, "I've got a match and I can't be late. You've apparently fallen asleep in the Pokémon world and were transported here. The only people I know who can do that are those who think this whole thing is a dream."

"Isn't this a dream," Alex asks. The girl in front of him sighs.

"Depends on what you believe," she answers after a few seconds. "I can't tell you what you believe."

"Aren't you my conscious," Alex asks jokingly. The girl flashes him a smirk.

"If I was I'd be a horrible conscious," the girl swings her racket over her shoulder and stretches her arms. "I can just tell you this; if you believe this to be a dream you will wake up. If you believe everything is real, you can't leave."

"So will I leave this place and return home," Alex asks.

"Are you with anyone in the Pokémon world," the girl asks, ignoring Alex.

Said boy raises his eyebrows and answers, "My sister, but shouldn't you know that?"

The girl rolls her eye, but Alex doesn't see. "Humor me," she says dryly.

"Just my sister," Alex shrugs. "That just goes to show I have either a sibling connection or a problem."

"What's your name," the girl asks, finally pausing in forest. She faces Alex when asking.

"Alex. You?"

"Everyone calls me Peach," the girl says as she stretches out her leg muscles. "But my real name is Sophia. Welcome to the Mario world." The girl pushes a tree branch aside to reveal a tennis court.

"Wait," Alex calls as they start moving towards the court, "As in Princess Peach?"

"I'm her double," Sophia explains. "I came here with my friend Carleen."

"I have a Pikachu named Carleen," Alex blurts out.

"Good for you," Sophia says, her lips twitch into a smile.

"What's a double," Alex asks.

"Did you ever watch Star Wars," Alex nods and raises his eyebrows for the second time. "Well, you do know how Padme had handmaidens?" Again he nods, "I'm like the handmaid to Peach, except I'm just a fill in until she gets back from wherever she is. Right now she's in a Brawl tournament."

"Whoa," Alex says, processing. Sophia turns around and sees the boy fading.

"I guess you're waking up," she says with a hint of sadness. "It was nice meeting you. Thanks for keeping me company."

"It was nice meeting you as well," Alex says as the world around him starts to fade. "You're a cool person, for a Peach wannabe."

"And I'm not just a Peach wannabe," Sophia says, throwing a smirk at the boy. "I'm the best Peach wannabe."

Alex laughs as the world around him goes dark. He has a tingling feeling as closing his eyes. When opening them, he finds himself back in the Pokémon Center. His sister is still asleep on the other couch. Alex yawns as the dream slips from his mind. He settles down and falls into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, Mario, Inception, and Star Wars.**

**I do own Alex and Sophia.**

**A/n: I found time and started writing, and writing. I'll have Xena's dream up in an hour or so.**

**I've got two main story-lines going on. Main story 1: is what all main chapters are about. It follows the Pokemon story-line, defeating the Elite Four and whatever the game wants you to do. Main story 2: This one progresses slowly and it is important that these middle chapters are read. So if you reading this for a Pokemon adventure you can skip these types of chapters. I hope you don't though. The second main story will be very interesting.**

Thank you to everyone who reads this. The next chapter should be up soon


	8. Xena's Dream (Mario Crossover)

Xena's Dream (Mario Crossover)

Xena is tired, and cranky. Not that's she'd ever show it, but closing her eyes to blink and opening to view a soccer goal didn't help the mood. What the heck, she thinks. A sudden impact on her head pushes her down onto the ground. Pain explodes as she curls up into the fetal position.

"Oh come on," a voice with an accent complains from behind her. Xena rolls over and looks up to see a brown hair girl coming towards her, "Really? What was that for?"

A Few Moments Earlier…

And Carleen has the ball, Carleen thinks as she pretends an announcer is in her head. She deeks left and right around those defenders. She's going for it folks! She's going for a goal.

The pale girl lifts her leg back and then kicks the soccer ball in front of her. She had been practising drills all morning, keeping up her skills from the real world. As she kicks, the ball does a beautiful curve and heads for the center-left of the goal. A smile split's her face and she gets ready to do a happy dance. That's when the dark shape suddenly appears. The ball crashes into the shape, sending both in opposite directions. Oh, to bad folks. Better luck next time.

"Oh come on," Carleen shouts. She stomps up to the shape and looks down at the girl on the ground. "What the bloody *ell was that for? I was so close!"

Back to Xena Point of View

The girl in front of her rants and raves for a minute or two. Xena sits up cross-legged while waiting her out. After she seems to quiet down, Xena asks, "Are you done?"

The girl takes a deep breath, probably to do more yelling, and glares. She takes a good look at Xena, and then sighs, "Yes."

"Good," Xena stands. "I'm sorry about ruining your shot. I'm okay, thanks for asking."

"I don't care," the girl says while rolling her eyes. "Your hair is in shambles though. I guess that may be my doing."

You think, Xena doesn't say it out loud. She chooses to raise her eyebrows. Xena watches as the girl walks over to the soccer ball and shrinks into a white rectangle. The girl stuffs the item in her pocket before walking back over to Xena.

"Alright, fine," the girl says seeing Xena's frazzled face. "Let's go over to the bleachers. I'm feeling a bit knackered."

The two walk over and sit down. The girl takes a swig of water and then sticks out her hand. "I'm Carleen," she says, "Also known as Princess Daisy, or at least her double."

"Sienna," Xena shakes her hand. "Please, call me Xena."

"Well Xena," Carleen says, staring at the girl hard in the eye. "Do you believe this is all a dream?"

Xena answers slowly, "The Pokémon world? No, it's real. This world? Until you asked, yes I did. May I ask why you're a double of Princess Daisy? You're very gorgeous, and do look quite like her if I may say."

"Thank you doll," Carleen says, expressing the same complement to Xena. "And I'm glad you're sharp enough to understand. It takes some yonks to get it, and by then it may be too late. As for being her double, this world already had the bug so there was only need for a hand full of us. We who believed it t'wasn't a dream stayed while those didn't left. Pokémon you say? I don't believe an infection has happened outside of the games Fire Red and Leaf Green. Which game are you in?"

"X or Y," Xena bites her lip. "I'm not too sure myself."

"Is it new," Xena nods, "well I would love to have a gander if the train leads there."

"I'm lost," Xena admits. She looks at the confident, younger girl with a hopeless expression. "What train? Doubles? I don't know anything about this stuff."

"Ah," Carleen whispers. "So there hasn't been an infection. Did you go to the Pokémon world with someone else?"

"My brother," Xena tilts her head and gives a small smile. "He actually just got a Pikachu and named it Carleen."

"What is it with people and Pikachu," Carleen cries, throwing her arms outward and startling Xena. She brings her arms in and rolls her eyes, "Besides, Pokémon is just not my cup of tea. I got the good value when I ended up here in Mario."

"Wow," Xena gasps with a smile. "This is Mari-" the world around her starts to fade.

"Oh look," Carleen says, relaxing. "You're waking up. I wonder why you came here in the first place. If you believe it's real than you should have stayed napping wherever you are, never to meet me until the train arrives."

"Will I ever see you again," Xena asks.

Carleen lets out a laugh, "Of course! Make sure you infect the world first, than we can see each other face to face."

"Excuse me," Xena asks, checking to make sure she heard right.

"You just have to touch someone," Carleen explains. "Touch them long enough and they get your energy. 'Those who believe it, create thoughts in others', as we say around here. You touch someone and literally change the world."

"What," Xena asks, almost in horror that she could be infecting someone. She was only able to hear part of the speech as she is almost awake.

"Cheerio Xena," Carleen calls as said girl finally fades from sight. Carleen sighs and gives a smile to the sky, "What a nice girl. A little off colour, but nothing some sun and relaxation couldn't fix!"

Xena opens her eyes to look at the clock on the wall. 00:14 am it reads. She groans as the little part of her brain tells her to remember the dream. She subconsciously pulls her hands closer to her chest, making sure they are covered by her body. She glances at her brother, sleeping soundly on the other couch. Rolling over, she falls into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or Mario.**

**I do own Xena and Carleen.**

**A/N: So, this explains part of the second main story-line. I hope you liked it. Have a great holiday!**


	9. Chapter 5 A Little Spanish in a Pokemon

Chapter 5 A Little Spanish in a Pokémon Center, and White Gloves

Xena woke up again at five in the morning. Not that you would think, it being light out. That's going to take some getting used to, Xena muses. With a sigh, the sixteen year old knows she isn't going back to sleep.

She looks around the Center, nobody has moved. Sneaking a glance at her brother she sees he hasn't moved as well. Let him rest, Xena thinks as she shifts into a sitting position. The brown hair girl cringes slightly as her watch digs into her skin when she shifts the wrong way. Getting comfortable on the couch, Xena lifts her left arm and takes the stylus.

The screen glows, showing her a few tags. She presses the X button and glances at the new tags that have shown up. Pressing the one labelled 'Diary' with the black stylus. A piece of paper appears on the watch. There is no keyboard or buttons to press for names. What do I do now, she wonders.

'_What do I do now?_' pops up on the screen's paper. Xena blinks, and then thinks of the word Apple.

_Apple_, appears next to the question. apple! _apple!_ Xena thinks of deleting those and they disappear.

_Dear Diary_,

This is a diary app after all.

_It's been a day since I woke up in this world with my brother. It's like I'm dreaming; only I know I'm not. Even if I could have gotten to sleep in my world I would have had nightmares and the pain would have woken me. I had a dream last night. I wish I could remember it, but I know I won't. I hope I'll remember it._

_Pokémon. Yes, mine and others childhood fantasy has finally come true and I officially own a Pokémon. It is literally the best thing to happen to me this year. Nothing can compare to the feeling of being in the Pokémon world. It's like I'm always ready to go, but it does take a lot out of me. Not kidding, I all but passed out on this couch in the Center last night. Speaking of which, the sun never sets here. And this watch doesn't tell time. Like the Spy Kids watch. _

_Anyways, now some thoughts. Since I know no one can read this because it's stuck on my wrist, I'm going to outright say it. The people here, besides my brother and I, are creepy. It's like they have no emotions. Alex hasn't seemed to notice and I'd like to keep it like that. Nurse Joy at this center has come to the closest to being nice, but even that is a stretch. There wasn't all that much emotion to her. Calem, my supposed rival, gave a few signs. Or I'm imagining things._

_Gosh, I feel like I'm forgetting something important. If I can remember I'll wright it but I don't think it's coming._

Xena continues to write in her journal. She writes about the Pokémon she's caught, the people she's met, places she's been, and different thoughts. She writes until a little after seven thirty.

_This is Sienna signing off. I'll write tomorrow, or whenever I have time._

A sound from Alexander's couch clamours and Xena looks up. She smiles at her brother, who looks to be exploring his watch. When he looks over at her, she smiles and says, "Good morning."

;;;

Alex woke up a little after seven twenty. He sat up and saw his sister concentrating on something on her watch. Deciding that annoying her isn't worth it, he takes out his red stylus and goes to the 'Options' tag. Unnoticed by him, he switches the languages.

"Buenos días," a female voice around him says. Alex turns in shock to see his sister smile at him, "¿Cómo estás?"

"Did you speak Spanish," Alex blurts. His sister twitches an eyebrow.

"No hablo español," she says slowly.

"You're speaking Spanish right now," Alex shouts.

"No no estoy."

"Yes, you are," Alex shouts.

Xena spies his watch, "Dame tu brazo."

"What," Alex asks as his little to none knowledge of Spanish runs out. His sister points at his arm, "Huh?"

Rolling her eyes angrily she lunged for his arm. Alex gives a high pitch yelp as his sister latches onto his arm. She takes her stylus and swipes the language back to English on his screen.

"Better now," she asks. Alex nods and shrinks back into the couch's cushions. "Good. Now don't _ever_ change the language again."

"Yes sis," Alex whimpers. Sienna rolls her eyes and goes over to her own couch.

"You're awake now," she asks. He nods. "Good. I'm hungry and there's a Mart somewhere in this building. I'm sure they have something for us to eat."

"I want pancakes," Alex moans. Sienna rolls her eyes. Pancakes, Alex thinks to himself as they walk around the Pokémon Center. Delicious, warm, mouth-watering pancakes. I haven't had some in a couple days. If this place doesn't have any, I swear I'm getting Sienna to make me some.

;;;

Well what do you know, Xena chuckles as her brother buys food at the Poké Mart. They really did have pancakes.

"And they're Pansage's face," Alexander squeals as he walks over to where his sister is sitting. "Can you believe this?"

"Nope," Xena smirks and gets up from her corner seat. "I'm going to get my food now. You want anything else?"

"No," he says threw a mouthful of food. Xena makes a face and walks up to the counter.

"Welcome to the Poké Mart," says the man at the back. He has short brown hair styled to spread out around his head. It gives him the look of a spike hairband. The person next to him could be his twin, except for his hair is more flat than spiked. They are both wearing the same blue Poké Mart apron and a light yellow button-up t-shirt underneath. "May I help you?"

Xena's watch beeps with the selection she can choose from. She takes her black stylus and selects 'Buy'. From there, she has an option of Poké Balls, Potions, Crepes (Thin Pancakes, Alexander bought this), Lemon Water, Tea with Scone, or Fresh Bread. She clicks on Tea with Scone. "Tea with Scone? Certainly. And how many would you like," the man asks. Xena clicks 1, "You want 1 Tea with Scone? That will be 150 Pokémon Dollars." Xena watches as her money goes down on her watch from 4,000 to 3,850. "Here you go. Thank you." Xena takes the tray of food that appears on the counter.

She sets it back down when a thought occurs. She turns to the other guy, points, and presses the A button. He says the same thing as the first, "Welcome to the Poké Mart! May I help you?"

"Do you have any gloves," Xena asks ignoring the selection screen on her watch.

"We have white gloves for 500 Pokémon Dollars," the man says. His voice is monotone, but his eyes flash. Xena catches this worriedly. "Would you like them?"

She pauses before saying, "Sure." Her amount goes down to 3,350 Pokémon Dollars. She slips on the white gloves over her hands. In doing this she misses the flash leaving his eyes. "Thank you."

The man nods and Xena picks up her tray. She leaves the two, choosing to calling over to her brother, "Would you give me a Potion if I really needed it?"

"Depends," he answers through his Crepe, "If you absolutely needed it, sure. But not without something in return."

"Like what," Xena asks, sitting down in her corner spot.

"Battle me," Alexander demands.

"No," demanding is ineffective. Xena uses rolling eyeballs.

Alexander uses 'puppy face', "Aw, come on." It is still ineffective. He decides to switch tactics. "These aren't as good as yours," he says motioning to the plate of food. "If you use any of my items you have to make me a meal."

"Where," Xena asks, slightly giving in.

"We can sneak into a person's house," he shrugs. "I'm sure they won't mind, as long as we don't press A."

"Sure," Xena agrees. "By the way, why do you think we're wearing these?" She points at her left wrist before sipping her tea.

"To make life easier," he says it as if she just asked why the calculator was invented. "We can use it as a game pad, a laser, and it can find which Pokémon we want to use. It matches Pokémon to the order of balls on my belt. Don't question, just go with the flow."

But now after a sort-of good night's rest Xena can't help but question. As much as she wants to go with the flow, like yesterday, she's feeling a little paranoid in this world. She finds it strange only her brother and her think and feel, at least that's what it seems. Why is everyone acting like this? Is there something in this world forcing everyone to act like this? She takes another sip of tea and nibbles on the scone. Why are we here? What if we turn out like this?

"Why did you buy the gloves," Alexander asks breaking through his sister's worries.

Xena looks down at her hands. "Because I'm cold," she explains. She holds up a hand and admires the glove. "I'm thinking about changing back to the skirt. Ew, that felt gross saying it, but I can't stand to be in these jeans any longer."

"Knew it," Alexander mumbles while finishing off his plate.

I won't let him turn out like them; Xena decides thinking back to her last question. No, I'd rather become one than see my little brother emotionless. He can enjoy this. I'll protect him, like an older sister should.

"I'm going to the PC," Alexander says. "To drop off my Pokémon, so be right back."

"Okay," Xena whispers as she goes back to finishing her tea. I wonder who the evil team of this region is. Alex will be excited to battle them. He always did like the plotlines. That, or he enjoyed beating up Pokémon and being called a hero for it. She chuckles darkly, if N could have seen what we did in the forest while we were level grinding he would have snapped. It takes a lot of fainted Pokémon to reach level ten.

In a better mood than before Xena collects the trays and plates. She carries them to the far right of the Poké Mart and leaves them on the counter. She taps her brother as she heads for the changing room in the back. "Can you please talk to the people around here?"

"Sure," he says while his eyes stay glued to the PC. Xena goes to the back to change into the skirt.

"Huh," she says out loud once in the change room. I never noticed how I'm not cringing at the sight of my pink bag. I guess that means I'm one step closer to getting over my aversion to pink.

;;;

"Pokémon are easier to catch if you make them sleep or paralyze them first," the camper shouts, causing Alex to cover his ears.

Why are they so loud, he wonders not for the first time? Do Campers lose their hearing up on the mountain? Besides, that information was useless because I already knew it. I pressed the A button for nothing.

He walks over to the orange head at the other end of the building. This one is a girl, who at second glance may have you guessing the true gender. "There's a fitting room back there," she says. "You can change in a flash!"

"Even you're yelling," Alex says while turning away. He pouts and looks at the creepy twins on the couch. "I guess I have to talk to you next."

"Don't worry," Sienna says from behind him. She is wearing the red skirt and green shirt she slept in. It looks clean and less wrinkled. "You won't have to suffer through this last part alone."

"Thank goodness you're here Sis," Alex groans in relief. "Everyone is telling me things I know."

"Like…?"

"Like sleep or paralyze a Pokémon to make catching it easier."

"Oh, it's trainer school all over again," Sienna shakes her head with a smile. "As long as we don't have to go through that for this game, I'm good."

Alex goes over, points, and presses A on the twin closest to the window. The kid says, "I caught my Pikachu in Santalune Forest!" Alex groans at that.

"Speaking of Pikachu," Sienna starts. "Which Pokémon are with you now?"

"Chestnut and Carleen," Alex says, walking and pointing at the second kid.

"Aww," the kid whines in a nasally voice. His voice is flat, but still manages to grate on the sibling's nerves. "I wanna catch a Pikachu, too! So lucky! Pika, pika, pika!"

"Now that that's over," Alex says turning to his sister. "Want to get this show on the road?"

"I just need to deposit some Pokémon," Sienna takes a deliberate sniff, "and you need to go to the change room." She holds out a hand as Alex goes to complain. "It cleans you up in a matter of seconds. You don't even have to change."

Alex rolls his eyes but does as she says. He comes back a few minutes later feeling fresher and cleaner. It's a good feeling. He sees his sister finishing up at the PC, "Who did you keep?"

"Just Froakie," she answers while stepping back. She motions to the lone Poké Ball on her belt. "As much as I want to keep the Pidgey, I don't want to train it. Without Shauna to heal abuse I don't want to come here more than necessary."

"Are we ready to go now," Alex says as more of a complaint.

Sienna gives a sniff, "Well you do smell much better. I suppose we can go. Is that lavender?"

"Let's just go," Alex grabs his sister's arm and pulls her towards the exit. Quietly he mumbles, "Marigold."

Sienna lets out a laugh as she overhears him. Together they walk out of the protection of the Pokémon Center and into the blinding sun. They smile at the warm rays. Alex gives a yelp as his sister grabs his arm and pulls him to the store with the clothing sign on it. Both siblings smile at the content they feel. Only one's eyes, though, flickers with very well hidden worry.

;;;

Gloves, they didn't sell gloves. Why did he give her a pair? These are the thoughts that would be running through the straight hair Poké Mart boy if Sienna had still been talking to him. Nothing happens now, but the moment she asked for gloves he came alive with a nervous feeling. A feeling one would have on the first day of a job. The feeling left and he became lifeless once again, waiting for someone (the player) to come and buy pills or status-ups for their Pokémon. Everyone inside the Pokémon Center fades as there is no one there to see it anymore.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or Spy Kids.

Sorry for the late update, but now I'm going to try picking up a schedule of one chapter a week.

Can't say I was too impressed with this chapter, but it does explain things like the 'watches'. Did anyone catch the irony Xena pulled? She wrote one thing in her diary then did something to prove it wrong without realizing. Mainly this chapter was more of delving into the heads of the characters. Sorry it's so short, I ran out of ideas pretty quick.

Enjoy your week everyone! I hope to have the next chapter up by this coming Sunday


	10. Chapter 6 Santalune City, the Sandalwood

Chapter 6 Santalune City, the Sandalwood City

"But you hate shopping," Alex whines as he gets pulled through the door to the clothing store. It is right next to the Pokémon Center, so he hasn't been dragged far. "Why do you want to go there now?"

"Because it's right here," Sienna says, watching as a woman comes towards them. "That, and do you really feel like looking the same as Calem the whole time?"

"Welcome," says the woman who came over. She is wearing small red hat and has her light brown hair tied back. She wears a blue dress that buttons up on the front, as well as black leggings. Alex presses A, "If you'd like, check the items at the back of the shop."

She stands there as the siblings slowly walk by. Alex sticks his tongue out and makes faces. Sienna flicks him but stifles a chuckle when she hears him do it again with her back turned. Alex feels her pull on the back of his jacket. He makes another face before turning around to face the products.

"There are only hats," Sienna pouts. "And accessories, but I don't want that either."

"I'll take a hat," Alex says, getting a starry look in his eyes. "I'll take the black Logo Cap." He points and presses A. He says 'yes' when the watch asks if he's sure. His money goes down to 2,800.

"I forgot," Sienna says while walking over to the Youngster on the left side of the room. "You have a hat obsession."

"No," Alex draws out the 'o' as he walks over to the mirror. "I just like some hats. It gives variety." He goes in front of the mirror. He points and presses A and a clothing select screen appears on his watch. In the background his sister presses A on the Youngster.

"This shop specializes," the Youngster starts. Alex uses his stylus to select the hat, "in hats and accessories." Clicking 'Change', the hat on his redhead switches to a black hat with a white front. There is a small Poké Ball symbol in the corner. "Should I get a hat?" Alex rolls his eyes hearing the Youngster and presses B to exit the clothing menu. "I dunno…"

"Don't get either," Alex says, knowing full well the kid can't hear him, "Because these hats are mine."

"Obsessed," Sienna calls as she heads over to the only other person in the building.

"You know," the person with purple hair says as Alex calls out sarcastically, 'no I didn't', "inventory shops like this one can be completely different from one shop to the next."

"Time to leave," Alex shouts in excitement. "Let's go," he grabs his sister's arm and pulls her to the exit.

"Bye," Sienna shouts out of habit. "Have a great day!" Once outside Sienna asks, "Is it just me or do we seem to be pulling each other a lot lately?"

Alex imminently drops her arm. He pauses before asking, "What do you want to do now?"

"Aw," Sienna coos, "thanks for thinking of me. I want to explore and talk to people. How about you?"

"I want to get this storyline started," Alex shouts running off.

Sienna sighs, "So much for what I want." She jogs after Alex, her legs relishing in the fact that they aren't in skinny jeans anymore.

As Alex runs up the path and ends up waiting for his sister with his back turned. All of the sudden, a man with brown hair and a light blue button up shirt turns to Alex and starts talking, "Walking through tall grass is great fun. All kinds of Pokémon jump out at you!"

"Wow," Sienna says from directly behind Alex. He spins around to face her. "I wanted to scare you, not mentally scar you for life."

"Scared? Yes. Mentally scared? No, I don't think so. Why?"

"Never mind," Sienna says. "Let's go into the building. I want to check it out, and you promised not to leave me."

"Ah," Alex groans as he follows her. Maybe I can just grab her arm. Nah, she's right. We've been grabbing each other a lot. This dream is weird.

The first building they go in gives them information they already knew. They do hear how pressing the B button as a Pokémon is evolving stops the evolution. By his sister's request they go to the house next door. His sister admires the roses around the houses while he sulks. A thought strikes him, "Hey Sienna." His sister hums. "You do know those roses are pink, right?"

Sienna freezes. Her eyes grow wide. She rushes into the next house, leaving Alex laughing behind her. "That wasn't nice," she wheezes while clutching her chest.

"No," Alex agrees with a smile. "But it was hilarious."

Inside the building are a man and woman. The man has black hair, and he explains that the Gym Leader of the town is a photographer named Viola. She is a bug type, much to Alex's joy, and the man tells them that they must find a bug type Pokémon to have his pictures displayed in the gym.

The woman with the orange hair explains about the badges you can earn. After clicking on Bug Badge on the watch, the woman says, "If you have the Bug Badge, then Pokémon up to level 30 will obey you without question." Alex groans, this was not what he wanted to hear. He wanted some tips on defeating the Gym Leader. When she asks what they want to hear, Alex presses B to exit out.

"Bug type," Sienna says in an unamused expression. "It had to be bug type."

"Sucks for you," Alex chuckles at his sister's expression.

"I'm usually great against bug type," Sienna sniffs. "I can't believe I was defeated by Burgh."

Alex just laughs. I get to go first! I'm going to cream this Gym Leader.

They walk by the Roselia fountain, both smiling at the sight. Sienna keeps her gaze on the ground as they walk forwards. She ignores all pink flowers that surround the town. Alex points out all the pink in the town as they walk. They end up going right at the fountain and entering the house at the very end of the path. Sienna presses A on the boy that stands in front of them.

After his speech he gives her a Great Ball. Alex stands with his mouth open as she tucks it in her bag. "No fair," he whines. Why couldn't I get the Great Ball? He pretends to kick dirt while his sister rolls her eyes and presses A until the boy is done. Alex presses A next on the woman in the room. All she does is recount her short time as a trainer.

They walk to the other side of town where the only interesting thing to happen is a guy wanting to trade his Farfetch'd for a Bunnelby. Neither has one, so they decide to leave until one of them catches a Bunnelby. Then, they'd come back for a trade.

They wander around, finding two cafes, before they end up at a large building in the middle directly behind the fountain. Sienna reads the sign out loud: "Welcome to the Train School. Brush up on Pokémon basics."

"No," Alex moans. "Do we have to go in?"

"Yes," Sienna says rather moodily. "We go in, talk to everyone, and then never go back."

"Agreed," together they enter. Sienna goes left while Alex goes right.

"You've got your Pokémon holding items like you know what's going on, right?"

"Type matchups, huh?" A button, "So water is good for fire, fire works well against grass…" A button, "And grass is strong against water – right!"

"Moves have types, too, you know?" A button, "If you use a move that's the same type of the Pokémon, that move's power will go up!"

"Oho," says the only old man in a school of children. Teacher…? "A new face in town! Yes, indeed! Take this with you on your way." Sienna receives X Attacks. She places it in her bag while pressing A, "Oh, and take this." She also receives X Defense. Two things she is never going to use. "Yes, they are for Pokémon battles!" A button, "By knowing which items to use during the right moment in battle, a Trainer can save his or her Pokémon in a pinch!"

"Even if you catch a wild Pokémon, your team's Pokémon will still grow." A button, "I know because my Pokémon leveled up when it was fighting a battle like that!"

My poor ears, Alex thinks as he listens to the last person yell their speech. He turns to see his sister slowly walking away from a grown man. "Are we done?"

"Don't need to check what's on the board," she asks.

The board, summarized, reads: Poison hurts. Paralyze sometimes stops from attacking. Sleep is when a Pokémon falls asleep and it can take a few turns to wake up. Burn is when is like poison except it doesn't hurt outside of battle. Lastly, frozen is when a Pokémon is unable to move until they thaw. "Nope."

"Then let's get out of here," they walk out the door.

Alex breathes a sigh of relief, "I don't ever want to go through that again."

"Want an X Attack or X Defence," Sienna asks. "The old man gave them to me."

"Wasn't that nice," Alex says while grabbing an X Attack knowing full well he will never use it. "So, can we go to the gym now?"

"Let's go," the brown hair girl motions him to lead the way. Alex walks left from exiting the building with his sister trailing behind him.

Yes, he smiles wide. Finally, the Gym Leader! It'll be awesome to battle them face to face, er sort of. And Sienna gets to watch. She hardly ever watches me play Pokémon. Oh, his face falls slightly. This is a dream, she isn't watching. Or maybe she is. He smiles brightly again. We could be having the same dream. That would be so cool!

The two come to the front of a grand building. There is a person in front of it who looks strangely familiar. Alex presses the A button on his watch while pointing at the person.

"Hey stranger," Sienna jolts at the voice. This is the person who pushed her yesterday, "Isn't cursing around town on your Roller Skates the best thing ever!"

"Yes," Alex cheers while Sienna silently groans. "That's better than running shoes!"

"There is so much exercise," Sienna moans, dodging the real problem.

"Lazy butt," Alex rolls his eyes, hand over his watch. "You're just upset because you can't use Roller Skates without falling."

He presses the A button and the woman in Roller Skates continues, "… Wait. Do you mean to tell me that you don't even own a pair of Roller Skates?!"

"Well duh," Sienna rolls her eyes while trying not to sulk.

"Then how about this: if you beat me in a Pokémon battle, I'll give you a pair!" Alex smiles brighter if possible while Sienna grimaces. "I can never say no to a contest, not me! So, how about it? Do you want to battle?"

Alex shouts an exited 'Yes' while Sienna mumbles 'yes'.

"Whether it's Pokémon or Roller Skates, speed is important!"

;;;

The siblings blink and they appear on the white background across from the Roller Skater. Around them the white fades to reveal the backdrop of the town; with bright blue sky and no sun. Both siblings raise their left arms and glance at their watches. They read: 'You are challenged by Roller Skater Rinka! Roller Skater Rinka sent out Zigzagoon!'

As Rinka, Sienna cracks a smile at the name (rink –rinka), disappears she sends out her Pokémon. The tiny raccoon Pokémon stands at 0.4 m with a black mask over its eyes. Its body is two different shades of brown, starting at dark on its head and rotating light, dark, light, dark all the way to the end of its puffed up tail. The Zigzagoon is a female at Level seven. Another Zigzagoon, exactly the same as the first, appears on Sienna's side of the field. The siblings smirk at each other and nod.

"Go Chestnut," Alex shouts releasing his brown and green spicy nut Pokémon.

"Let's do this Froakie," Sienna whispers to her ball. She runs a gloved thumb over the center button before reaching back and then throwing it forwards.

"Use Roll Out," Alex shouts. Chestnut rolls a stone ball forwards to his opponent with great speed. He hits in the face.

"Quick Attack," Sienna whispers while clicking the button on her watch for said attack. Her Froakie moves quickly, as said in the name, and attacks the Zigzagoon in its side.

This battle goes on for a little longer, leaving both siblings' Pokémon leveling up to Level eleven. It becomes a draw on who defeated their rival Zigzagoon first, causing stuck out tongues and rolling eyes. Alex blinks with his tongue still out as they go back to standing in front of the Roller Skater girl.

"You wrapped up the battle before I could reach my top speed," the girl says. It would sound like she was complaining if she had emotion to the words. The two collect their prize money and the girl continues, "W-wow! That was amazing! You might be even stronger than the Gym Leader!"

"Just give us the roller blades," Alex snaps. He ignores his sister's sigh. She presses the A button.

"All right! Here you go: one spiffy pair of Roller Skates, just as I promised," for a moment the siblings are scared – okay Alex is scared there is only one pair, Sienna is hoping there is only one pair. To Alex's delight – and Sienna's disappointment – they both get handed a pair of rolling skates. "Listen up. I'll read the instructions for your new pair of Roller Skates, OK?" Boy did she stress the 'ok'. Alex presses A, "'Our Roller Skates snap right on to any shoes so you can glide your way around!'" A button, "'All you need to do is move the circle pad to get those wheels going.'" Sienna presses the A button as Alex tries to get the wheels on, "That's all there is to it! So go on! It's your turn. Try gliding about like me!"

Alex imminently gets the wheels on after flicking his watch's circle pad. He starts moving forwards, and then starts gliding circles around his sister.

"This is so much fun," he shouts.

"Yah, great," Sienna eyes him wearily. "You're not even wearing a helmet. Be careful."

"Pah-lease," he says while skating backwards from her. "If I'm going to hurt myself badly I'll just wake up."

Sienna sighs, but Alex doesn't see it as he skates towards her again. "Here," he says coming closer to her left side. "You give it a try."

"Wa-" Sienna yelps as wheels appear on her shoes after Alex flicks her watch's circle pad. She stands as still as can be, but that doesn't stop her momentum. "Alex!" she screams as she rolls away from him. Somehow she rolls around the trainer school, away from anything to grab onto, and down to the left of the school, "Help!"

Alex blinks processing as his sister yells for help. When she disappears from sight he finally snaps out of it, calling back, "I'm coming!" He skates after, going around the trainer school to catch up. He spots his sister as she rolls to a gate. She yells and shrieks wanting to stop moving. Alex watches, going faster and trying not to laugh at her expression, as she hits an invisible wall. She lets out a painful moan as her body gets squished against it because of her momentum. There is a person to her left, Alex's right, which turns to the brown hair girl.

"Oh, you…," the girl looks the least of ten years older than Sienna. Alex comes to a stop beside the two girls to listen. "You are, aren't you?"

"I don't know," Sienna grumbles as she steadies herself against the invisible wall. Her right leg rolls out from under her and her face lands on the wall again with a slap. "Ow, my face."

Alex press the A button as his sister is too busy trying to steady herself, "You're two of the kids who got a Pokémon from Augustine Sycamore, right?"

"Mo," Sienna sniffs as her face is still on the wall. "We hent out end ought our own okie-on."

"What," Alex asks dumbfounded.

"Ah," Sienna shouts as the invisible wall disappears. She puts her hands out to stop her face from hitting the ground. It doesn't work. Slowly peeling herself from the ground, Alex clutching his stomach from laugher behind her, she says, "I said, 'no, we went out and caught our own Pokémon'."

"Really," Alex asks rolling forwards to help his sister stand. He chuckles as falls on her butt while trying to get up. "What's got you in such a bad mood?"

"These," Sienna lifts up a leg to show off the wheels underneath. "How do you turn them off?"

"Try pressing the plus shaped button," Alex shrugs. "If you want I can try to teach you."

"To press the button," Sienna presses the button as she says this. Her wheels go away, "Nah, I think I got that."

"No," Alex groans sticking out a hand. Sienna flashes him a smile as she takes his hand and gets up. "I meant teaching you how to skate."

"I know how to skate on ice," Sienna says, dodging the statement.

"Would you like to learn or not," Alex demands. The smile on his face as he thinks of watching her fall repeatedly gives away his hidden intentions.

Sienna stares at him. Lowering her eyes to the ground with a sigh she finally says, "Yes."

Alex's face turns into a smirk as he presses A. The woman that they had been ignoring turns to continues, "That Froakie and that Chespin you've got there looks pretty happy. You two must be good trainers." A button. "In that case, get over to the Pokémon Gym. I'm sure my sister will be glad to meet you!"

The woman turns away from the two and goes back to staring at nothing. Sienna silently rolls her eyes and brushes off her clothing. She catches a glimpse of her white gloves and lets out a loud gasp, startling Alex.

"What's wrong," he asks. Alex looks around for danger, only to see his sister mourning the not-so-white gloves. Girls, he rolls his eyes. "Come on Sienna, they're just gloves. I still don't even get why you bought them in the first place."

"Because," she whimpers. Alex skates backwards and his sister walks quickly to catch up. She shakes off the sadness for the dirty gloves and continues, "So when do you want to do these lessons?"

"After the Gym Leader," Alex is quick to reply. His energy grows with the smile on his face. "I'm ready to kick some bug lover butt!"

"Please don't yell," Sienna says covering an ear. Alex mumbles a quick 'sorry' as she continues, "My ears can barely take these people yelling at me all the time."

Alex rolls his eyes and spots a path down beside the Pokémon Gym. Sienna looks to where he gazes and says "Hey, do you want to see where that leads?"

"No," Alex says shortly, "Gym Leader, now."

"Okay," Sienna mumbles walking behind the rolling boy. "This should be interesting."

Alex switches off his shoes as he goes first through the gym doors. This is going to be great, he thinks with a huge smile. My Pikachu, Carleen, will gain experience points while Chestnut can become stronger. I never let my grass types be defeated by bugs.

;;;

Where Xena had fallen onto the ground, more specifically where her face had fallen, is growing a few specs of grass. It doesn't take long for the three strands of grass to grow, just as it doesn't take long for them to die. By the time the siblings enter the Pokémon Gym there is no more grass on the dirt road. It goes back to its programming of being only dirt.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

A/N: I did it! Sort of. It seems I'm posting a day earlier than I thought. That probably won't happen again, sorry.

To all of you wonderful readers, favourite-rs, and followers, thank you so much! I love knowing that people are reading and enjoying this.

So this I couldn't come up with a name for this chapter. It's just Alex and Xena exploring around the town. I'm trying to even out their points of view, but writing Alex is much harder than expected. The next chapter will be the first Gym, and I'm hoping to do another battle scene for Alex specifically. I'm sure I already said this, but I don't like writing battles. Maybe it will get better as the story picks up.

So Xena doesn't know how to skate... That makes for a slow journey.

Lastly, I've watched ahead on some Let's Play's, and even got X. Whoop! So, I'm trying to make the next couple chapters lighter (and hopefully funny) before we get into the deeper stuff.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter should come next Sunday if all goes according to plan.


	11. Chapter 7 Sienna's Fear of Spiders, Gym

Chapter 7 Sienna's Fear of Spiders, Gym Leader Viola

Pictures hang around the wall in the only room of the Gym. Sienna gazes lovingly at them while Alex looks confusedly around for the Gym Leader. He spots a man, I thought the leader was a girl, and then spots a hole right behind him, I wonder if she's down there.

Alex, ignoring his oohing and awing sister, walks up to the man and presses the A button on his watch.

The man is wearing a white button shirt with a red tie, and red suspenders that are holding his pants up. He looks a little more than slightly overweight. The man has his brown hair gelled and combed back. His skin is pale white making him look sick. He stands there with a smile on his face. When he speaks, his voice is as monotone as other NPCs, "What's the hustle, little Crustle? Welcome to the Santalune City Gym!"

"Crustle isn't a bug type," Sienna bow furrows. She turns from the paintings to her brother, "is it?"

"Bug and rock type," he answers right hand hovering over the A button at his side like an itchy trigger finger.

"Oh," Sienna whispers softly. "I'm more knowledgeable about Kanto and Sinnoh Pokémon."

"Can we continue," Alex asks impatiently.

"Go ahead," Sienna rolls her eyes. From any other person that would have hurt the sixteen year old, but with her brother she rarely cares about his hurtful words. They don't fight a lot, so she knows not to take it personally.

Alex, on the other hand, feels a bit guilty about that. He hurriedly says, 'sorry' before pressing the A button.

"So, future Champ, this'll be your first time battling a Gym, huh?" A button, "Are you thrilled? Are you pumped?" A button, "You should be!" Sienna flinches, "No worries here! You've got your Pokémon on your side!"

"Why are they so loud," Sienna asks. Her brother already presses A again.

"And really, they're the ones who are gonna be doing all the battling." A button, "Am I right, or am I right? Right?" With another A button the man turns to the square hole behind him, "Jump on that pole there, and you'll be on your way to where the Gym Leader's a-waitin' for you!"

Both siblings turn to the white pole down the center of the black hole. If I'm not mistaken, Alex thinks, that looks like a string from a spider. He presses A again.

"Whoops! But wait! Before you go, I'm supposed to tell you something!" With a press of the A button the man turns back to Alex, "Everybody in this Pokémon Gym uses Bug-type Pokémon. Got it?" One last A button and the brown hair man goes back to staring at nothing.

"Who wants to go first," Sienna asks. She nearly does a face palm when Alex runs ahead and jumps onto the pole.

Alex slides down the pole. At first his hands start to heat up, and then they start to burn. Seeing light appear down below him, and hoping that Viola didn't create her gym to harm people, he lets go. His eyelids close and he curls in his arms his legs for a cannon ball. He doesn't fall for very long, in fact he feels himself rise and fall again. When all motion stops, Alex opens his eyes. He gazes around the dark area to see that he is actually sitting on a spider web. Turning around he can see people all standing on platforms connected to certain places of the web. The one farthest away has a person who looks different than the rest; both clothing and hair wise. That must be the Gym Leader.

"I'm coming down," a voice echoes from above Alex. He blinks and then looks to see that he is right underneath the pole. He scrambles out from under it as his sister lands on the web, bouncing it up and down. She raises a hand to rub her head when she realizes where she landed.

Alex wonders why his sister just became so pale. He then takes a good look at the web and a light bulb clicks on inside his head. He starts to laugh hysterically while his sister has a mini panic attack.

"It's not funny," she chokes out. "What if there are spiders? Oh my gosh I'm going to die."

"Don't worry Sienna," Alex says coming to pat his sister on the shoulder. "Everything will be fine. We can battle the Gym Leader and you'll never have to come down here again."

"But to be sure," Sienna starts. She strongly grips Alex's hand and closes her eyes. "I'm not looking."

"Whatever," Alex rolls his eyes. He drags his sister, who mutters something about poison and fang, behind him as he figures out the web is like a maze. You can only walk on certain parts. His sister is great at mazes, but she's a little useless right now. They backtrack a lot in the center of the web before Alex and Sienna reach Youngster David. They battle him (Sienna does open her eyes for the battle), defeat him, and get lost again. As much as Alex begs his sister to help with the maze, she keeps her eyes firmly shut. They go and battle Youngster Zachery, both defeat him. Carleen is now level ten, Chestnut is level twelve, and Froakie is level thirteen.

After battling and defeating Lass Charlotte Alex gets worried, "Sienna," his sister hums to let him know she's listening. "My Pokémon's HP is getting close to yellow."

"Then use a potion," she says as if it's obvious.

"… I don't know how," Alex admits as he finishes leading them through the web maze. "We're off the web by the way."

"Thank goodness," Sienna sighs and opens her eyes. She gives a yelp at seeing the Gym Leader only a few feet in front of her. "What the heck?"

Alex laughs and his sister turns to glare at him. When he subsides Sienna tells him to use his watch. Alex takes the red Stylus and his watch's screen lights up. He presses the X button and clicks the 'Bag' tag, as his sister instructs. He goes to the medicine pouch and clicks 'Potion'. He touches the tag labeled 'Use' and it brings him to his Pokémon screen. He clicks on his Pokémon bringing them to full health.

"That was easy," Alex states. Sienna laughs, mumbling something about staples. "Now, I'm going to battle the gym leader. Come and watch please," the last word is said in a whiny voice.

The blonde hair person in front of the two has her hair up behind her with two thick curls shaping around her face. Her eyes are a wide dark green, standing out against her white skin. She is very slim with a white tank top sticking to her body. There is a white scarf tied to her waist in place of a belt. The blonde's green cargo pants reach below her knees with four large pockets, all bulging with who knows what. Her shoes are brown with the laces the same colour as her pants. She has a green bracelet around her left wrist that matches the same colour as her pants and laces. The last, and most noticeable, things about her are the two different size cameras hanging around her neck. One is a large black camera with a long lens while the other is a small, pocket size camera with the same colour scheme as her outfit.

Alex walks up, points at the Gym Leader and press A. He lowers his arm as she speaks, "The determined expression… That glint in your eyes says you're up to the challenge…" A button, "It's fantastic! Just fantastic!" A button, "Is this your first time challenging a Gym? Fantastic!" A button, "Whether it's tears of frustration that follow a loss or the blossoming of joy that," A button, "comes with victory…" A button, "They're both great subjects for my camera!" A button, "Fantastic! This'll be just fantastic!" A button, "Now come at me!" A button, "My lens is always focused on victory – I won't let anything ruin this shot!" A button. The Gym Leader gets in a ready stance and clicks the button on her camera. It lets off a bright flash, both siblings blinking as the unexpected light hits their eyes. Alex raises his left arm to shield his face.

;;;

When the light fades, Alex finds himself standing on a never ending wooden platform. He looks at his watch as he lowers it down from his head. The screen on it shows a green background with two Pokémon symbols floating in the background. As he watches the screen a bright flash slashes diagonal through the middle. In between the slashes is a picture of the Gym Leader while underneath the picture is the words 'vs Viola'. It changes to the normal challenge screen. A picture of the Gym Leader's head appears and the text box reads: 'You are challenged by Leader Viola. Leader Viola sent out Surskit!'

Alex looks up as Viola fades away across the platform and a Surskit appears. The blue and yellow pond skater Pokémon lets out a battle cry. Its spider-like body glides against the floor before going still. Alex gives a smirk at the bug and water type.

"Go Chestnut," Alex shouts releasing his Pokémon. It's his Level twelve Chespin vs. the Level ten female Surskit.

"Good luck Alex," Sienna shouts as she appears behind him. Alex gives a smirk and prepares for the battle.

"Use Vine Whip," Alex shouts. Chestnut forms small vines as he pushes his arms back. He swings both arms forward and the vines grow huge. They smack the stomach of the opposing Pokémon, causing its health to drop into the yellow zone.

Alex watches his watch as it reads: 'The opposing Surskit used Water Sport!' Alex breathes in relief as his Pokémon's fire power lowers and not its health. The Surskit makes up and down motions, flinging water as it moves.

"Chestnut, Vine Whip," Alex shouts. Said Chespin uses vine whip again, this time hitting the front legs of the Surskit. The opponent's Pokémon faints. Alex withdraws Chestnut as the next Pokémon gets sent out.

A female Vivillon, Level twelve, appears on the field. Sienna 'oohs' from the background at the flying butterfly, the scale Pokémon, appears across the field. Its large pink wings flutter back and forth. Alex feels a twinge of nervousness. Bug and flying type, I can't use Chestnut. That Vivillon is also stronger than all my Pokémon. "Go Carleen!"

The female Pikachu stands at ready, waiting for orders.

'The opposing Vivillon used Infestation' reads Alex's watch just as he shouts, "Thunder Shock!"

A dark patch appears under the Pikachu. She shudders at the feeling of multiple bugs running over her. Alex reads his watch at the beep: 'Carleen has been afflicted with an infestation by the opposing Vivillon.' One eighth of her Health Points goes down.

Carleen stores up electricity. She flexes every muscle in her body and throws her head back, releasing the stored energy on the opposing Pokémon. Vivillon ends up paralyzed as well her life lowering to just above half.

Infestation is still in effect, causing Carleen to lose another eighth of her life. Her body shakes as the black dots run up and down her skin.

"Quick Attack," Alex demands. Carleen goes on all fours and sprints forwards. She leaps and attacks the opposition. The Vivillon's HP goes down to one fourth left.

'Vivillon used Harden'. The foe Pokémon creates a shell around itself, raising its defense.

"Thunder Shock," Alex yells out. Carleen lets loose another bolt of electricity, falling the Vivillon.

'The opposing Vivillon defeated' reads Alex's watch. 'Carleen grew to Level ten. Carleen grew to Level eleven.'

'You defeated Leader Viola!'

"Congratulates, Alex," Sienna shouts as he continues to read his watch.

"You and your Pokémon have shown me a whole new depth of field! Fantastic! Just fantastic," Viola shouts as she appears from across the field. He blinks and she is right in front of him, back on her platform in the gym. Alex collects his prize money and the Gym Leader continues, "Young trainer, you…" Sienna slings an arm around her brother as he presses the A button on his watch. "No, it wasn't you alone." A button, "You and your Chespin have shown me a whole new depth of field!" A button. "Fantastic! Just fantastic!" A button, Viola sticks out a hand and gives Alex the Bug Badge. It is the size of a small charm and is in the shape of a beetle; claws pinching together. The beetle is brown and with green gems, some of the gems taking on a yellow tint.

"With that Bug Badge," Viola continues, "Pokémon up to Level 30 will listen to your orders in battle…" A button, "Yup, even if you get them from trades!" A button, Viola sticks out her hand with a CD in it. "And here! This TM commemorates your win against a pro photog like me." Alex places the TM83 Infestation in his bag, in the TM and HM case. "Using a TM like that one lets you teach your Pokémon some new moves quicker than a shutter," Sienna rolls her eyes at the badly timed pause. Alex presses A, "set to 1/1000 can snap shut!" A button, "TMs are some of the best gear around. They're point-and-click easy, and you can use them," A button, "over and over again!"

"Will she ever be quiet," Sienna mutters dropping to the ground to sit. Alex rolls his eyes and presses A.

"Now, the TM I just gave you is for a move called Infestation. Use it, and it'll be impossible," A button, "for your opponent to flee from battle!" A button, "Now then, can you zoom in a bit to check out the tent behind me?" A button, "Take the stairs that you'll find beyond it, and you'll be back up to the entrance faster than a flash!"

"Does she actually make lame camera jokes," Sienna asks rhetorically. Alex presses A once more and the back of the tent opens wide, "Finally, my turn."

Alex stands beside his sister as she gets up, points at the Gym Leader, and presses her A button. Once again the whole thing begins…

;;;

"If you didn't have that potion, you'd be a goner," Alexander says as they climb the stairs.

"I know," Xena says, internally rolling her eyes. "I'm very lucky. Froakie is at level fifteen now. I wonder when he'll evolve." She yawns at the Alexander's stomach grumbles. "How about we head to the Pokémon Center for a short rest?"

The red head boy gives a nod and scratches his stomach. They reach the top of the stairs to find themselves in the room with all of the pictures. They both turn around at the sound of the Butterfree picture closing behind them.

"Come on," Alexander says while walking forwards. "I want some food, and not from those Cafes with no doors."

"Whoa-ho-ho! Wouldja look at those Bug Badges," the man with the red suspenders walks over to the siblings. "Nice! Very nice, future Champ!"

"Will these people ever be quiet for five minutes," Xena asks through gritted teeth. She rubs her eyes as fatigue makes her slightly cranky.

"I bet that schmancy-pants professor who gave you your first Pokémon'd be amazed to see it!"

"Is it just me, or is he trying to sound cool," Alexander asks.

"Yes," Xena whispers. "And he's failing miserably."

"Stop being to cranky," her brother says while rolling his eyes. "As soon as we're out of here you can have a nap. Now quiet, I want to hear what this guy has to say about our maybe-dad."

Xena tries to hide the annoyance welling up in her. She usually isn't like this, but the battle with the Gym Leader took a lot out of her. She presses A this time.

"After you heal your Pokémon in the Pokémon Center, why don'tcha head on up to the Pokémon-,"

"Wow, all these badly placed A button moments," Xena mutters. Her brother rolls his eyes again and presses A.

"-Lab in Lumiose City and show it to him, huh?"

"Why should we listen to you," Xena says causing Alexander to face palm. "You're trying to act all cool and you're wearing suspenders. Nothing against them, but I don't like you. You've ruined suspenders for me. What do you have to say for yourself?"

A silence falls and Xena realizes how stupid she's being, "Uh, let's head to the Pokémon Center."

"Good idea," Alexander says, leading the way. He looks at the path on their left when leaving the Gym. "How about when you're feeling less cranky I'll teach you how to use Roller Skates?"

"Sorry," is Xena's quick reply. "I'll stop being such a prick. That would be great."

They walk back to the Pokémon Center with Alexander retelling his Gym battle. Xena oohs and awes and doesn't bother reminding him that she was there. Alexander heads straight to the Poké Mart when they enter. Xena goes to the couch she used the night before. She spares a glance at the clock before lying down. It reads 12:39 pm. They've spent the whole morning in the Gym.

Unable to get comfortable Xena gets up and wanders to the changing room. She enters and imminently becomes clean. Even her dirt stained gloves become as white as when they were just bought. Xena slips off her gloves and shoes. She still has her insanely long black socks on, as well as her green shirt and red skirt. She takes off her hat and the sunglasses on top, leaving her long brown hair to flow freely. She leaves the change room and heads to Nurse Joy.

"Good day," says the smiling nurse. "Welcome to the Pokémon Center. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?" Xena says 'yes' and hands the Nurse her only Poké Ball, "Ok. I'll take your Pokémon for a few seconds then."

Nurse Joy places the Poké Ball in the machine behind her. A few seconds of silence, and then she takes it off and hands them back. "Thank you for waiting," she says. Xena keeps the ball in her bare palm. "We've restored your Pokémon to full health." Xena presses A with her right and Nurse Joy bows, "We hope to see you again."

"Thank you Nurse Joy," Xena says. She feels her eyelids start to pull down. She turns around and heads for the couch.

"You're welcome, dear," says the happy voice behind her. Xena pauses and glances at the smiling nurse. Must be my imagination, she flashes a quick smile back towards the Nurse. Xena goes to the couch and lies back, Poké Ball clutched between her two hands. Her brother comes over carrying a crepe, "Good day Alex."

"Good day Xena," he chuckles and settles on his own couch. Xena lies on her right, facing the change room, and closes her eyes.

Only to open them what feels like seconds later. She flicks her eyes over to her snoring brother, and then to the clock that reads 1:21pm. She sighs, what a short nap. Her finger rubs against something smooth in a calming fashion. Unintentionally she presses the button on the Poké Ball. Xena lets out a yelp as it opens in her hand, Froakie appearing on the floor by her couch.

"Froakie," Xena asks. Said Pokémon blinks up at her. She looks at the Poké Ball in her hand and makes the connection, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." She connects the ball back on her belt.

"Froakie," the sound it makes reminds Xena of popping bubbles. She sleepily gazes at her Pokémon before lifting her left hand to pet it.

"Come here," she whispers. The Froakie moves closer, starting to purr as she pets him on the side of his right eye. She lifts him up and places him on her chest, "Do you mind if I keep you out of the ball for a few hours?" In response Froakie curls up on her stomach, letting Xena touch the white scruff around his neck. It feels like bubbles, she muses before placing her hand back down. Froakie looks at her, the two white dots on its face twitching, before he closes his eyes and sleeps. It takes Xena a few minutes to adjust to the extra 7kg weight on her chest. She stares at the ceiling, finally falling asleep after a blink.

When she wakes up again she looks at the clock, being careful not to disrupt the sleeping Pokémon on her chest. It's nearing three thirty, meaning she has been asleep for a few hours. Turning back to her sleeping Pokémon, she whispers, "Froakie."

The Pokémon shifts on her chest. She whispers his name again and Froakie cracks open an eye, "Froakie?"

"I need you to move," Xena whispers felling like a criminal for waking the sleeping Pokémon. "Or go into your ball."

Froakie gives a yawn but doesn't move. Xena is careful to return him to his ball without disturbing him. She gets up off the couch, not feeling tired anymore. She gets up and goes over to the books on the shelf in a corner of the Pokémon Center. Xena loves to read, especially fiction. There are no fiction books on the shelf, much to her disappointment. Instead she picks out a book labeled Beginners Guide to Pokémon Care.

After sitting down on the couch she opens the book. For an hour she reads on how to apply Potions and other healing items on a Pokémon when it is outside of its ball. Nothing on wild Pokémon, sadly. She returns the book to the shelf, giving a wave to Nurse Joy who nods back. Xena returns to the couch and opens up her diary.

She thinks about her day, breakfast, the dream she can't remember, getting gloves, the Gym battle, being so tired she hears voices, Froakie, and finally the book she read. She makes mental notes on certain points and explains how she would have loved the opportunity to study to be a Pokémon doctor if she wasn't already on her way to being the Champion with her brother. That leads her to her worry. She thinks, what if only one can be Champion? She would gladly give it to her brother, but it would be nice to have the title. What if that leads them to go home? Xena doesn't want to leave.

_I'm happy and healthy here_, she writes, _unlike back home. I think this is where I belong. The only problem I have is the people. Everyone hear has no emotions, or only shows it once in a while. And they all shout. My poor ears and mental physique won't be able to handle much more. I tear up quite easily when someone raises their voice back in the real world. I've been holding it together for Alex, but I don't know how much more I can take._

_Wow, did that ever sound depressing. Anyway, I've been having as much fun as I can. I'm quite scared to learn how to Roller Skate. Alex had a smile that promised me a bruised tailbone. So, I guess this is where I wish good luck and safe travels. I hope I'll find some time to write again soon. _

_Sincerely, Sienna _

Xena looks down at her diary. She closes the app, saving first, and looks back at the clock. The large hand is about to reach four forty-five. Deciding that it's time to do something, Xena goes and buys food, a loaf of Fresh Bread and two Lemon Waters for her and her brother.

"Wake up Alex," she nudges the boy on the couch. He groans and buries his face in his arm. "Come on, I have food."

Alexander eventually gets up. They share the bread for breakfast and drink their waters in silence. Once done Xena says rather nervously, "Can we head down the route by the Gym?"

Alexander gets an evil smirk on his face, causing Xena to gulp, "Sure, then I can teach you to Roller Skate."

I should have kept quiet, Xena decides. The bad feeling she gets doesn't fade as the smile is kept on his face even when they leave the Pokémon Center. How is it I, the older sister, am scared of him? If he wasn't doing this because of some kind of goodness in his heart I would have ran the other way.

;;;

Froakie _felt_. Even if it was only for a while, he tried to keep the feeling of his trainer's, Xena's, warm body in his mind. The Poké Ball never gave off warmth like that. Next time I gain thought process, he tells himself, I won't go back. I will keep that warmth near me until I can produce that heat.

Inside the Poké Ball Froakie is already forgetting the promises he tells himself. He goes back to not thinking, although it does take a full hour for all thought to go away. He uses the energy so fast in such a short amount of time as he tries to remember. In the end he doesn't. Froakie hibernates inside his ball until released for battle. Xena doesn't give him a thought as she suffers through her brother trying to teach her to skate.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon**

**A/N: Thank you to all you viewers, followers, favourite-ers, and… Dum-Da-Da-DAA! Reviewers! I was so happy to see those, it made my day. Now I'm going to address them.**

**If spellcheck was a person, they'd be that friend you'd go to for help. I find my spelling skills poor and do use it a lot. Thank you though; I would appreciate it if you did that.**

**Thank you for writing about the disclaimer. I wasn't so sure about it and wrote it in to be safe. I'll throw one in every few chapters, but again thanks for writing about it.**

**I am trying hard with the descriptions and thank you for noticing. I enjoy writing the last bits at the end of each chapter, especially if I had to slog through actually writing the chapter. You've mostly guessed right as to what's going to happen, but in these beginning chapters there is going to be little of it. I'm sorry about the chapters with no Pokémon, but I will keep them where they are. The Mario chapters are important for later. Also remember that when Alex and Xena woke up they did not remember anything but hints of the dreams. Sophia and Carleen (the person) will be important later and for now will only be seen in dreams. Thank you and I hope I use the potential well too.**

**It did mean a great deal to read everyone's' reviews. So again, thank you to everyone.**

**Does anyone else get worried about entering a bug type gym? Not power wise, but the fact that you have to crawl into cocoons, walk through honey, tightrope across spider webs, and try to find a method to the madness in them. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it.**

Important: I have been in a Super Smash Bros mood for a while. There are a few chapters of something I wrote over the summer that I can change to fit where I'm going with this story, although it won't show it. The story wouldn't give spoilers until later chapters, and it's really only about what goes on to prepare the mansion before the tournaments. I wouldn't be posting this new story until after January if I decide to do it. I guess I'm asking, do you want me post it (I'm going for humor with that story). If you do then I will, but it may confirm or deny theories you have for this story. The new story would also not be updated very often as I'm spending my time writing this one.

** Sorry for such a lengthy authors note, I just wanted to put say thanks and put that out there. Enjoy your week, and expect the next chapter Sunday the 26th.**


	12. Chapter 8 I Hate You Route 22

Chapter 8 I Hate You, Route 22

On Route 22, Détourner Way…

She really does suck, Alex thinks as his sister shakes on her skates, trying to steady herself. Contradicting his thoughts, he says, "Good job, you're balancing now."

Route 22 is a seemingly short route with a dirt path, few 'tall' grass patches, and four different types of trainers. The dirt path starts at the east Santalune City exit and weaves around high ledges. There is one ledge, just ten or so steps away from the Santalune exit, which is the smallest in the area. It looks climbable, at least for someone tall and strong enough. This is where Alex stands on his rollerblades, arms tucked behind his head. He watches as his sister flings her arms this way and that to try and regain her balance. A light trace of dust shimmers through the air from her constantly moving wheels. What was once the corner of a perfectly smoothed out dirt road is now filled with marks made by her skates.

Sienna blinks and glares at her brother, a grunt slips past her lips. She shakes a little on the wheels and Alex has to stop himself from laughing as he continues; "Now I'm going to give you a push and you're going try moving your legs to keep going, just like ice skating."

"This is nothing like ice skating," Sienna exclaims. She waits unsteadily in the middle of the path as Alex rolls up behinds her. He pushes her back, forcing her to roll down the first length of the path, towards the first corner around the ledges. She tries to move a leg by herself, but doesn't on account of losing her balance once again. Sienna doesn't move again, but focusses on keeping her balance. "Hey, I'm moving," she calls while keeping her eyes on her skates.

"Congratulation," Alex drawls. I could roll on skates when I was four, so _great job_ sis. He watches as she nears the corner, almost five feet from normal grass. After that, there are bushes that don't look all that safe to skate into. Being the loving brother he is Alex just rolls back and forth in place, wondering if she knows how to stop. He really gets a surprise when his sister does a sudden jerk right. She follows the dirt path, by accident, and goes around the corner and disappears around the ledge. Alex does a double take in panic before rolling after her. "What are you doing?"

"I don't –OW," Sienna, soon after turning, face plants into an invisible wall. She groans and slides down as a NPC on her left walks from the edge of the grass over to her. "Ow my nose."

"I learned-," the NPC talks and walks over as Alex come next to his sister. He helps her up as the NPC finishes and touches his shoulder. They get sent to the other plain of dirt and grass for a battle.

Once done battling Rising Star Louise, Alex watches as Sienna's skates come back on and she falls to the ground. He doubles overs laughing, which in turn knocks him off his skates. The red head rolls on the ground both wheezing and chuckling.

"Ha, ha," Sienna says siting on her bottom. Her face is expressionless as she stares at his hysterical form, "So funny, isn't it? You're a horrible teacher."

"Sorry," Alex chuckles, calming down. "How about we battle these trainers and I go back to teaching you?"

"Yah, no," Sienna presses the plus shape button on her watch to turn off her wheels. "I'll battle, but I don't want to be doing any more rolling for a while. I'd rather run."

"Le gasp," Alex says sarcastically. He gets up quickly and skates away, "Sienna, openly saying she wants to run? I'd never thought I'd see the day."

"Ha, ha," Sienna jogs after her brother. Not far from Rising Star Louise, they battle against Lass Elin. After, they get information about a Rhyhorn racer named Grace, battle Rising Star Loïc and finally battle Schoolgirl Mackenzie. Chestnut advances to Level fifteen and Carleen to Level thirteen. Froakie reaches a high level sixteen.

At the end of the battle Sienna's watch beeps. She reads: 'Froakie is evolving.' Her Pokémon turns and looks at her. A bright light surrounds it. Alex shields his eyes while his sister stares at her evolving Pokémon. When the light fades Sienna's watch beeps and reads: Froakie evolved into Frogadier. Frogadier knows Pound, Quick Attack, Bubble, and Water Pulse.'

"No fair," Alex says, ruining his sister's awestruck moment. "How come your starter evolved first?"

Sienna returns her Pokémon and answers with a question as they get transported back to the route, "Because I only have one Pokémon? Did you notice how hard it is to level him up? It took forever."

"But you still evolved him first," Alex grumbles. Sienna follows behind like a shy lost puppy. They reach a three way path, choosing to keep walking forwards and battle another NPC, "As soon as I get a thunder stone I'm evolving Carleen."

The two battle Lass Elisa. Frogadier stands at 0.6 m. It still has its white bubble scarf and its eyes are still separated by a certain space, but the tops have little blue points sticking out backwards. It looks as though it is wearing a dark blue mask while the rest of the body is light blue. It has six fingers, each with a white tip. It has four toes, each toe is a dark blue.

Alex huffs and sends out his Chespin, who grows to Level sixteen at the end of the battle. Chestnut evolves into Quilladin. He now stands at 0.7 m with a round body. He has green body armor that wraps around his chest, ears, tail, and top of his arms. Brown fur sticks out from under the armor and is in short patches on his cheeks. On his ears and tail are red tips. There is a bright smile on his dark tan face, but only Sienna catches the blank look in his upward oval eyes.

"Yes," Alex shouts while returning his Pokémon. "Take that, Sienna."

"Good job Alex," his brown hair sister gives a nod. They collect their prize money. Since the way they were planning to go is all water, they scrap the idea take a different route - up a set of stairs. This leads them to enter a building.

"Yah," Alex continues. "When we battle I'm going to kick your butt." Sienna hums, not fully paying attention as they walk into the building. She stares at the brown and graying bricks while he continues, "I'm going to be the Champion, so I want to battle the Elite Four first."

"Maybe," Sienna mumbles. She takes in the long hallway of gray brick walls and brown stairs/floor. This hallway has two openings, on behind the siblings and one a long ways distance in a line to them. A gate stands on the left side of hallway, a man standing guard in front. Sienna stops in front of the man, Alex following suit in curiosity. The only other entity in this long, dim hallway is a girl.

The man denies them access through the gate, revealing in his words that this is the way to the Elite Four. Alex snorts as they walk over to the girl. Gosh, Alex thinks, this is like LeafGreen all over again. They tell you where to go and leave you hanging out in anticipation the entire game. I'm ready to finish this. If this is my dream, I could head on through there and change the levels of the El-

"Let's head back," Sienna says, interrupting his brother's thoughts. Alex blinks to see the girl NPC walking back over to her post against the wall. Sienna glances over at his silence. Seeing he wasn't paying attention she explains, "Apparently we can't go this way with the level our Pokémon are at."

"Okay, sure," he says. They turn around and Alex casts a glance over to the gate as they pass. He shakes his head and speaks the first thing to come to mind, "I really want to a get an HM slave Pokémon. Do you think there is a wild Herdier?"

"Why not a Lillipup?"

"Because I don't want to train a Lillipup," Alex whines. "A Stoutland would be best, but I try not to hope to high."

"Yet you still want to be Champion," Sienna raises an eyebrow as they reach outside, walking down the stairs. There is another way the off the dirt path which they hadn't seen before. It leads to a few small, spaced out ledges. They go to the first ledge, hop down the small drop off, and continue walking.

"I said hope," Alex points out as he walks ahead of his sister towards the next ledge. "I know I'll be the Champion. No offense or anything."

"None taken," As they land down off the ledge Sienna spots an item in the short grass off to the right. She nudges Alex to it. "I want to be a breeder, or nurse, but that's not possible."

"Why can't you," Alex asks in confusion as he picks up the fallen Super Potion.

"Because we're Pokémon Trainers," Sienna says as if it's the obvious answer. And because I don't want to ask the creepy NPCs for anything more, she adds to herself.

Alex rolls his eyes and doesn't drop the topic, "I'm sure you could be whatever you wanted if you put your mind to it."

"Thanks for the pep talk," Sienna says as they walk over to the last ledge. "But I'll stick with being a Trainer like you."

Alex hops down and clicks on his Roller Skates. Sienna jumps down, and face plants into the dirt. "Why me," she calls to the sky as Alex laughs. "What did I ever do? Gosh, I hope we never have to come back to this route."

"Here," Alex stick outs a hand, which she gladly takes. "Let's heal our Pokémon and then we can go to the next town. I want to battle another Gym Leader."

"How about some food first," Sienna asks. "I'm hungry."

"Sienna," Alex whines as he skates back to Santalune City. "We've only been out here for, like, an hour."

"I'm still hungry," Sienna says, jogging to catch up to her brother. "And for once I'm not tired. As soon as we're done we can go."

"Ugh," Alex complains. I just can't win, "Fine."

;;;

Nurse Joy stands stationary at her desk, pretending that she is perfectly fine being still. She isn't, but it isn't in her job description to complain. She hears the two Trainers eating food over by the couches. They've been here a lot, evening falling asleep in her Pokémon Center.

I wonder if they've gotten any Badges, the Nurse thinks to herself. She still doesn't have enough energy to move by herself, but, as this is the third time she is able to think freely, she doesn't use more energy than needed. I hope they do make it to the League. Such nice children, it would hurt to see their determination crushed.

Nurse Joy feels her face form that listless smile; I guess my time has run out. That's too bad. I hope that young girl comes back soon so we can talk. I saw her reading that book; she has potential for Pokémon medicine.

The Nurse Joy of Santalune City's feelings slowly slips away until she becomes a blank NPC like the rest. The two siblings, Alexander and Sienna, leave her building with their bellies full and smiles on their faces. Neither of them had notices that Nurse Joy's gaze follows them out. As they leave her Pokémon Center she has one last thought.

I hope they can save us all.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you to all viewers, followers, favourite-ers, and reviews. Your support means a lot to me.**

**Big thanks to Bella Luna 21 for their review. I couldn't stop smiling after reading it.**

**Oh Someone, I love reading your beautifully written reviews. Thank you for taking the time to write them. I'm glad you like reading this story, and am sorry you don't like the end bits. I am trying to give another point of view as well as demonstrate that the characters are still under the influence of the game's 'programming'. Your fire type attack idea is a thing of beauty, but I've planned to the attacks the same as they would be (only a Pokémon won't forget an attack once it is learned). It's a great idea though. And thank you for your wonderful review.**

**I dislike putting quotes around characters thoughts. I'm sorry to all those it messes up, but it feels too forced. If I do go back and fix my chapters I will try to make the thought sections more clear. If I do edit any chapters, it will be a mass update to all of them. That isn't happening anytime soon, sorry.**

**Alex has played Pokémon games before, but still doesn't quite know the extent of the 'watches', unlike his sister. These are supposed to act as a 3DS pad, but since neither sibling has played this game before they don't know how different these things are from the other games. His lack of intelligence on using a potion is more on him thinking you need to apply it directly to the Pokémon, which Xena reads about later.**

**Elusiveness is not my specialty. I've tried to give the readers information early on without giving too much away to the characters. For those who dislike this, I sincerely apologize. I'll try to tone it down, but I've got a few more chapters on the way that gives away quite a bit.**

**I'm working on the next chapter to try and post it sometime this week. Sunday the second will be the latest, but hopefully I can finish it before. This chapter may seem short, but it was shorter the first time I wrote it. The next one is longer, I promise. I'm trying to fill this next one is full of references, a fun chapter before a lot of plot. I hope everyone has an amazing week, and thank you for taking time to read this.**


	13. Chapter 9 References

**Warning: This chapter contains badly made references and a cliché idea being brought to light. I sincerely apologize for all mistakes made when using these references. Now my question, can you catch them all?**

* * *

Chapter 9 References

"Oh, you…" the tall woman at the gate turns her dark green eyes towards the space between the siblings. Sienna lifts a hand towards the town's boundary line, feeling for an invisible wall. Her hand makes contact, but no sound is heard when she knocks her knuckles against it. Alex rolls his blue eyes, both at his sister and the short brown hair woman repeating the speech from their first meeting, "You are, aren't you?"

"No, really," Alex says sarcastically. He eyes the woman as his sister retracts her hand. "I never would have guessed I'm me."

He presses A and she continues, "You're two of the kids who got Pokémon from Augustine Sycamore, right?"

"Nope," Sienna says causing Alex to smile and give a snicker. "We happen to be the kids of the leader of an evil organization called Team Rocket. Instead of getting a Pokémon from our psychopath father we went out and stole it from Augustine Sycamore, who just so happens to be sending love letter to our mum."

"Really Sienna," Alex asks. He smiles up to her and raises his eyebrows.

"Yes, really," his sister half smiles down on him. A faint tinge of red dusts her cheeks as she realizes she said it loud enough for more than her and Alex to hear. "I had to make a couple references; it was killing me not to." She presses A.

"Would you look at that," the woman exclaims. Her face betrays nothing as she stares blankly between them. "You got a Bug Badge!-"

"She sounds surprised," mutters Alex.

"-Looks like I might have a new scoop!"

"… Of what," Alex asks, sending the woman the most innocent face he can muster. "Ice cream? I don't think Bug Badges taste good."

Sienna rolls her eyes and the woman continues talking, "To beat Viola at your young age… You really are something aren't you?"

"She is the easiest Gym Leader here," Alex scoffs. He runs a hand through his red hair. "Don't tell me she honestly thought we'd lose to the gym? I bet you anything Ash wins on his first try."

"Don't count your Togepi before they call you mother," Sienna says in a slightly scolding manner. She keeps her half smile on as she presses A to continue.

"Oh! Sorry, I never did introduce myself, did I?" Sienna holds up a hand as Alex goes to say something. He huffs, annoyed, but lets her proceed with pressing A. "I'm Alexa. The Gym Leader you just faced, Viola, is my younger sister."

Sienna lowers her hand, "Okay, go ahead."

"What the heck," Alex says. He rocks back and forth on his heels. "Okay, first you used us to create a scoop of ice cream," Sienna face palms, "then you go on to tell us that you're surprised we beat your sister when everyone knows that the first Gym Leader is always the weakest link in the fence. And finally, you decide to introduce yourself as _Gym Leader_ Viola's sister? That's like me saying 'I'm Alex, the _brown hair- grade eleven- girl_ Sienna's brother."

"Done," Sienna asks nonchalantly. She moves the end of her running shoes around in circles on the cobblestone pavement, pretending to not find her brother's freak out hilarious.

Alex takes a deep breath, both as a dramatic and calming motion. He releases it saying, "Yah."

Sienna nods, there is still a slight smile on her face, and presses A, "I work as a journalist myself. Here, why don't you take this to celebrate getting your first Badge!"

The two are handed a helmet like item. They tuck it away in their bags as Alexa continues, "If you have an Exp. Share and you turn it on, all of the Pokémon on your team get Exp. Points," A button, "even if they don't ever appear in battle."

"Yes," Sienna cries out, "Finally."

"Calm down sis," Alex says while slowly backing away from his excited sister.

"I've been waiting for something like this for years," Sienna exclaims, the faint blush on her cheeks coming from embarrassment. "I think I have the right to be excited."

"Whatever," Alex says. He presses A.

"I hope it helps with your training!" A button, "I work at the big publishing house in Lumiose City. Feel free to stop by anytime if you have the," A button, "next big scoop to share with me!" One last A button and Alexa walks away. The siblings blink and she disappears.

"Strange woman," Sienna mumbles.

Alex nods in agreement, "She's never getting my ice cream."

Sienna ignores that last part and smiles brightly. She takes her stylus from her watch, her brother watching curiously.

"What are you doing," Alex asks. He leans around his sister to see her press bag and go to the key items.

"Turning on my Exp. Share," she answers, clicking on the EXP Share. "Wouldn't it have been nice if we had it before going down Route 22?"

Alex hums his agreement and goes to his own bag. He turns on his Exp. Share with much less enthusiasm than his sister. I don't know what the big deal is; he thinks gazing back up at his sister. She only has one Pokémon on her, so it doesn't really matter. I guess it's a bit exciting that we didn't have to wait hours and hours to get this item.

"Ready to go," Alex asks his sister. She nods and he walks down towards the new route. Their watches bleep, causing both to look: 'Route 4, Parterre Way'.

"Look at those flowers," Sienna whispers from behind her brother. He lifts his gaze to see on both sides of the route are flowers reaching the height of his knees. "The yellows and reds, they're so beautiful."

"Is that a maze," Alex asks, pointing to a large hedge that seems to be inside the area of flowers. It reaches a good three feet higher than Sienna and is the length of almost half the route. "I'll race you through it."

Sienna chews her lip, thinking. "Fine," she agrees, nodding her head rather reluctantly. "But promise you'll shout if you run into anyone?"

"Sure," Alex says quickly. He runs to the flowers on the left, only to stop short seeing a new Pokémon in them. "Hey, this is like tall grass; there are Pokémon in here." He spots an orange flower Flabébé in the yellow flowers, "I'm going to take a quick detour to battle, if you don't mind waiting." He doesn't wait for his sister's reply as he walks onto the square with the Flabébé.

;;;

"I guess I don't have a choice," Xena mutters. She carefully makes her way through the flowers, gracefully twisting this way and that so to not step on any with Pokémon. At least he warned me, she tells herself. Xena finds a short, grassy pathway in between all the red and yellow flowers. She stands in the middle path, realizing that it leads two ways into the maze. Xena glances at the right opening, the one nearest the dirt path of the route, to see it indeed leads to a path into the maze. She swiftly walks over to the left opening to spot the same thing. I wonder if there are any Pokémon I want here, she muses as she looks down at the red flowers between the two openings. She looks around from her spot on the grass path, but doesn't spot any ones she desperately wants. I could always catch them for the Pokédex, there's time… I think there's time anyways. Xena has a twinge of depression shudder through her. How much time do we have? Will we go home if we beat the game? I hope not…

"That was annoying," complains Alexander as he appears in the flowers. Xena forcibly pushes back all her worries and plasters on a smile. "Now, let's have this race."

"Right, or left," Xena asks, motioning to the two entrances.

"Right," Alexander calls, moving in front of said entrance. "First person to make it to the farthest end without walking on the dirt path wins," a nod is the answer to his question, "On three?"

Xena nods once again and moves to the left, her competitive flame sparking up and overshadowing her momentary gloom, "One."

"Two," both bend their legs slightly down and get ready.

"Three," they shout and sprint into the maze.

Alexander turns on his Roller Skates and sprints to the end of his path. He scoops up the item lying on the ground, "I got a Repel!" He turns around and heads back to the closest outer path, silently cursing when it leads back to the dirt road. He glides back into the maze.

Meanwhile, Xena hears her brother shout and she grunts, pushing her body faster. She takes the first left and follows the tall green hedges until they opens to another path. Both going forward and the new path lead to a dead end, so she back tracks. Xena makes a mental map of the maze, committing each turn to memory. I may not remember names, Xena thinks as she goes left up the path she came from, but I can do any puzzle you throw at me.

Instead of going right at the next turn she goes straight to the end of her path. Then she takes a left. Her path ends suddenly. She glances left, another dead end, and then right. A small ominous smile graces her lips as she spots the path through another flower garden. "I believe I've made it halfway," Xena calls, laughing when she hears her brother whine her name.

Xena goes down the path between the flowers, spotting the dirt road on the far right of the flowers, and ends up with a choice; left or right? A quick decision and she goes left. The decision turns out wrong for her as an older man spots her. With a sigh she calls out, "I'm going into a battle!"

Alex smirks as he hears his sister's call. Finally, he thinks as he reaches the flower garden she just passed. Left or right, he muses? He goes left and spots his sister standing still as she battles Gardener Wheaton. He goes right and takes the long way around to the next exit. Alex finds an Antidote just as his sister calls out, "I'm back!"

Alex rolls to the end of his path, using the wall of compacted green leave as a guide to not fall or crash into anything, when Gardener Wheaten spots him. Alex spots his sister behind the gardener. She flashes him a smirk and exits the maze through a patch of yellow flowers.

Xena comes back through the flowers, careful of the Pokémon, and waits for her brother. He snaps out of it a few minutes and waits for the gardener to pass. Xena gives a smile, a bit of smugness in her expression, "I win."

"Other maze," Alexander demands. "Winner takes all."

Xena shrugs, smile still in place. "Whatever floats your boat," she mutters. She has her brother follow behind her as they exit out the way they came. They head over to the beginning of the other maze on the right side of the dirt path.

Alexander turns and asks, "Are you ready?"

"Yep," Xena says, getting ready to run.

"Read-Set-Go," Alexander shouts. He rolls into the maze leaving his sister blinking. She smirks, so that's how you want to play it. The tall girl runs in behind him.

They end up going the same way until the redhead turns left at the end of one path while the brunette turns right. Alexander spots a Super Potion at the end of his path, calling it out as he wastes time to grab it. Xena sighs, I never get anything. She ignores the yellow and red flower patch and heads left at the end of her path. That way leads her to go right. Soon after her turn is a small gap in the hedge, just large enough for her to get through. She pokes her head in through the gap and looks left and right. A smile crosses her lips, I take that back. Xena squeezes between the hedges. The tall girl goes over and picks up a Great Ball, calling it out as she does.

"No fair," her brother whines, he passes from the hedge's hole on his skates. She goes right, away from the opening, in hope to find the exit before him. She does spot it, but her brother gets to the flower patch before her. "Ha, I win!"

"Good job," she smiles a true smile. As she walks up to him, a Pokémon in the flower patch catches her attention.

"I'm awesome," Alexander says, puffing out his chest. Xena rolls her eyes and Alexander continues, "So, what now?"

"I'm going to catch a Pokémon," Xena says, walking into the grass. Alex complains that's she taking the fun out of his win. She says, "If you catch a stronger Pokémon than me than I'll not only let you gloat, but I'll have a battle with you."

Alexander, who's been waiting for a battle with his sister, jumps at the chance and goes into the flowers in search for a strong Pokémon. Xena goes onto the space with the Pokémon she spotted, confirming her suspicion.

Entering the grassy plain, blinking away white specs, Xena faces her tiny opponent across the field. A Ralts stands at 0.4 m with its green hair shaped around its head in a bowl cut. There are two flat red horns, one at the front and a smaller one at the back, which splits through the hair. Its body bears a resemblance to an oversize dress, curling around its feet. The feeling Pokémon stands ready.

Xena looks at her watch thinking, please be a girl, please be a girl. It's a boy, much to her disappointment, at Level eight. Xena clicks Frogadier's ball and sends him out. The brown hair girl doesn't pay attention to her surroundings, eyes focused on the Pokémon in front of her.

Xena clicks on Pound on her watch. Frogadier slams his body into the small, frail looking Ralts. The foes loses more than half its HP. 'The opposing Ralts used Growl' reads her watch. In a non-menacing way the Ralts lifts its head to let out a growl. The sound it makes is more adorable than menacing.

Xena clicks on Poké Ball from inside her 'Bag' tag. A Poké Ball appears over her watch, which she grabs. The girl throws it, softball in gym class finally being of some use, and it hits the Ralts. The ball shakes once, twice, and then the Ralts breaks free.

Xena frowns. After another round of Ralts using its cute Growl she tries again, this time with a Great Ball. The ball shakes once, twice, and then clicks.

"Yes," Xena breathes. She returns her Frogadier and walks across the field to retrieve her new Pokémon. "Welcome to the team, Ralts."

The peaceful background fades as she clicks the Poké Ball to her belt. Xena stands back in the area of yellow flowers, her brother still not back. With an exhale she walks over to the maze and leans against the wall. She rubs her temple as the sun beats down.

Even if I'm not in the real world I still feel tired easily, Xena gives a mirthless chuckle inside her head. I wonder if that will wear off or if I get to live with it for the rest of my life. She turns her mind to happier thoughts, a Ralts eh? I wouldn't have thought to have gotten that so early on. I wonder how rare it is, being that it's the first I've seen.

A shade passes over her form, shielding the light a smidge. Xena looks up to see her brother looking rather smug over at her.

"Level eight Combee," Alexander says smugly.

"Level eight Ralts," Xena relishes in his gobsmacked look. "It's a tie."

"No," Alex refuses. "Let's go again." He looks around the flower patches, frowning, "I can't see a Ralts. I think you lied."

"No, and as much as I would love that," Xena starts, pushing herself off the wall. She shows him the ball, "I need to get to a Pokémon center soon."

"I guess I do to," Alexander mumbles coming over to her. "Come on, I want to drop off this stupid Combee."

"Combee isn't stupid," Xena sniffs. "I happen to actually like the little Pokémon."

"Enough to trade me for your Ralts," Alexander asks pulling a smirk on his face.

"No," Xena says shortly. "I love Ralts to much for that."

"Whatever you say, Willy," Alexander grumbles. Xena rolls her eyes at the weak joke as they finally exit the maze.

;;;

Almost a half hour later, mainly of Xena struggling to keep up to her roller skating brother, the two enter Route 4 again. This time they ignore the mazes and head down the straight dirt path towards a large structure at the end. Xena tries not to pant as the sun beats down on her. She drank lots of water before coming out here, but her body doesn't seem to care as it feels weighed down.

"I still can't see a Ralts," Alexander complains. He takes quick glances at the flower patches as he skates by them. "It must have been a fluke."

"I haven't seen a Metapod but I remember you saying you battled one in Santalune forest," Xena points out, feeling a little disheartened at being called a liar. She keeps a smile on her face, but it's a bit more strained.

"That's different," the redhead argues. "I didn't catch it."

The two reach the end of the dirt path with the mazes. They head down a short set of stairs and end up on another dirt path surrounding a large structure, a fountain. It really is beautiful, Xena muses. The brunette gazes at the two horsea statues as they shoot water at the center statue, a clamperl. She continues taking in the beauty, but that doesn't stop the odd tired feeling in her. Xena continues their conversation saying, "It shouldn't matter if you catch it or not. Maybe X and Y have different Pokémon depending on wh- oof."

A Roller Skater came from around the corner and slammed into her side. Even in pain, Xena manages to say, "I'm fining you one hundred dollars."

"I love Pokémon battles," says the skater girl. Alexander goes over to help his fallen sister up as the skater girl comes and touches him on the shoulder.

One Pokémon battle later, Xena sits on the ground leaning against the fountain. She says, "Just let me catch my breath for a second."

"Gees, Sienna," Alexander sighs. What's her problem? "The Pokémon battle couldn't have taken that much out of you. It was a Fletching for crying out loud. If anything, I'm the one who should be freaking out."

"Still not over that," Xena asks trying to keep the breathless tone off her voice. It works as he doesn't notice. The girl is silently grateful for his lack of observation.

"Yes I'm still not over it," the redhead exclaims. "The thing attacked me while I was asleep!"

Xena reaches her hand into the water when her brother turns away. At this point I think getting sick would do me some good, she thinks taking a sip. The anxiety feeling, which was the odd feeling from before, fades with each sip she has. Maybe I've gotten too much sun. Strange that it would be affecting me and not Alex. I guess he was always outside the past few months; he must be used to it.

"And that's why I don't want a Fletchling," Alexander concludes.

Xena, who had secretly been listening even after wandering in thought, nods in understanding, "You don't have to unless we can find you something else to learn fly." She gets up from the fountain, called Perle Fountain. The cool, calming water settles in her stomach, making her feel better.

"Ready," Alexander asks. She nods, "Good, now let's battle the other Roller Skater and be out of here. I'm starting to get dizzy with all this round 'n round."

The two battle Roller Skater Rolland, easily defeating him and gaining Exp. Points for their teams. Walking, or gliding in Alexander's case, around the fountain they go and battle Poké Fan Agnes. After defeating her, they enter a maze that has so much space between hedges it should not be called a maze. They can see the dirt path split into two, and take the one that lead them to a Preschooler. Preschool Adrian challenges them, and uses a Magikarp against both of them. While her brother hysterically laughs at seeing the weak Pokémon, Xena wonders where she can get one.

"Well," Alexander chortles as they walk to the other side of the maze-like route. "That's what happens when the professor doesn't give you a Pokémon."

Xena rolls her eyes, keeping quiet about her want for a Magikarp. I love Gyarados, she thinks with a simple smile. Her brother runs into the middle portion of the maze-route after seeing an item on the ground. Xena walks after him. I wonder if I could pull an Iris and catch a fish Pokémon without a rod.

"I got a Poison Barb," Alexander shouts, lifting his prize up to the sky.

Xena smiles, answering, "Hey, look, listen. Good for you."

Alexander sticks out his tongue and looks at the flower patch behind him. What a kid, Xena thinks. After the thought, her body straightens and she groans. The redhead turns at the sound. "What," he asks.

"I had an Iris moment," Xena admits rubbing her forehead. She takes notice to the flecks of sweat now on her hand. "Are you ready to make it through the route?"

"What happened to catching them all," Alexander jokes as they exit between the open space in the maze hedges.

"I'm feeling a little under the weather," Xena admits. Her brother just rolls his eyes.

"What's new," he asks, a slight complaining is in his tone. "You're always feeling 'a bit under the weather'. Once we get to the Pokémon Center in the next town you can have a nap, lazy butt."

Xena doesn't say anything as they come to the next trainer, but she thinks that a nap is a beautiful thing. She fingers the watch on her wrist, wishing it would tell her what time it is.

The siblings battle Preschooler Mia next. Ralts becomes a Level nine, learning the move Confusion at a late level. Xena believes this to be a good time to check his stats as they walk ahead. He has a Modest Nature, is often lost in thought, and his First Ability is Synchronized. There is only one other move he knows besides Growl; Confusion.

The siblings battle Poké Fan Gabe. They backtrack a bit afterwards and find a path on the left of the route. After Xena gets them to the end of the maze, they battle Gardener Grover. She picks up the item at the very corner of the maze before her brother can get it. It turns out to be a Net Ball.

The siblings backtrack to the bottom right of the maze, where they first challenged Preschooler Adrian, and look for any hidden paths on that side. I can barely focus, Xena thinks to herself, never mind look for items. She stifles a yawn, waking her up a little bit. That's better.

"I can't wait to leave this area," Alexander says as they reach another dead-end. "I'm only here because you want to collect everything." Xena gives a tired chuckle, but the redhead doesn't notice. He continues, "Oh look, another Gardener spotted us. Goodie," the last word is said with a straight face.

They battle Gardener Fabian. If the Gardener wasn't an NPC he might have had a heart attack listening to Alexander belittle his Corphish. As much as Xena wanted to tell him to stop, she was laughing too hard. When the battle ended and they walked away Alexander can't resist throwing out one more comment, "You may be a gardener, but you picked the wrong Pokémon. Corphish adapts to everything, so your hippy earth loving has no effect to it."

"That's the best you could come up with," Xena whispers, more awake now.

"You try coming up with jokes," Alex defends. "After a while, everyone runs out of material."

Eventually coming to the top right corner of the maze, Alexander picks up an Ether. "These are the best items," he announces, tucking it away.

"I can't disagree," Xena says leading them out of the maze. "Do you think you can give that to me?"

"No way," Alexander shouts. Xena flinches at the loud noise, "There are only ever a few in the games, and in no way am I giving it away."

"Whatever," Xena mumbles.

They exit the maze and Alexander says, "Can we talk to those people in front of the arch way now?"

Xena looks as he points to the end of the route. She blinks in shock thinking, I'd be lying if I said I didn't notice them before, "Um, sure?"

Alexander does a fist pump and flicks on his roller skates. When did he take those off, Xena wonders? She gives her head a quick shake, it doesn't matter. A yawn slips by her lips, gosh why can't I ever have energy? It's like I've got no stamina, which it could very well be… I can't be weak. I need to be strong, and protect my brother.

"Come on, sis," said brother calls as he turns to face her. "I swear, you're getting slower every day."

"Sure Alex," she snorts, forcing her body into a jog.

The two end up at the end of the path where two people dressed in white stand. One is a boy with blond hair while the other is a girl with dark hair. The boy turns to the siblings. "Hello there," he starts, "Have you ever heard of a Pokémon called Flabébé?

"Unfortunately," Alexander grumbles. Xena rolls her eyes at his change of mood.

A button, "Oh! I see. It's registered in your Pokédex!" A button, "That's what I would expect from one of the professor's handpicked Pokémon Trainers!"

"Is it just me," Xena whispers to her brother, "or do you feel like you're part of an unpaying job?"

The redhead nods, "I guess the pay is the prize money. Not much of a prize, though."

A button, "Flabébé is – now brace yourself – a Fairy Type Pokémon," says the girl. She has this crazy grin on her face, only Xena sees the blank look in her eyes. That's just creepy, she thinks as her brother presses A.

The boy continues, "Fairy type is -"

The rest of his sentence is over shadowed as the girl yells out, "This turned the entire type-matchup system on its head!"

"Now," Alexander says, "Jigglypuff can be good for something." Lowering his voice, he says, "Because we all know what happened in Brawl."

Xena pretends not to hear him, choosing to press A. The girl with the dark hair continues, "We've been battling Fairy Type Pokémon against other types of Pokémon at," A button, "Professor Sycamore's request."

"Does this man do anything for himself," Alexander wonders out loud.

"Alex," Xena whispers. "Don't be rude. I'm sure he didn't get the title of Professor because of his good looks."

"You think he looks good," Alexander shouts.

"Well," Xena turns a faint pink in embarrassment, "No, but I'm just saying. Besides, anyone who can randomly appear and disappear in a room is creepy until proven trustworthy."

A button, "My name's Sina! It's a beautiful name for a beautiful lady!"

The siblings blink at the girl's introduction. "Well," the redhead says, "I would call her out on being vain, but she can't hear us."

Thank goodness for that, Xena thinks. Why couldn't he have kept that to himself? She sighs and presses A. At least pretend to be nice, Xena wants to say.

"I'm Dexio," states the boy. What is it with the boys being short with everyone, Xena wonders. She presses A and he continues, "Two years age, Professor Sycamore entrusted me with a Pokédex." A button, "You could call me a Pokémon-voyage veteran."

"Or I could call you Dexio," Alexa says. "Now let's get this over with." Xena nods in silent agreement, a yawn slipping past her lips.

A button, "If you'd like," the girl, Sina, starts, "I'll show you the way to the lab. So, come along now!"

A bleep sounds on the siblings wrists. A yes or no option appears. Xena waits for her brother to decide. She doesn't wait long.

"Yes," Alex says out loud. Xena follows after him by clicking 'yes'.

"Ok," Sina shouts. "Let's get this show on the road!" She walks into the tunnel/ gate/ building her and Dexio were blocking. Dexio follows after she disappears under the archway.

Alexandre turns to his sister, "Ladies first?"

"Oh," she gives a smirk, "You're so kind sir."

"I try," he shrugs. He goes behind her and nudges her forwards, "But seriously, you first."

"Fine," Xena says rolling her eyes. I'm glad I'm needed, she thinks as they go under the archway. Stifling a yawn she gazes around the short path connection. It's good to know that I will be missed, even if it's a selfish thought. _You should tell him_, the words of her mother echo in her head. Xena glances quickly back at her brother, who is too busy looking around to notice. Not yet, she tells herself. The anxious sensation that came on at the fountain comes on again, this time because of a more mental than physical feeling.

Not yet, she tells herself trying to calm down. The anxious feeling flares, as if asking 'when'. Soon, she tells herself as her brother comes out from behind her. If a feeling could tsk, it would be doing it right now.

It's not soon enough.

;;;

Ralts is known as the feeling Pokémon. He is more sensitive to others, mainly because it's in his programming. If it wasn't than it would be because Ralts was considered physic until generation six. Now, in Pokémon X and Y he is physic and fairy.

Every time the main character across from him would let out a breath, he could _feel_ the energy. It made him feel alive, it made him _think_. And once coherent enough, it made him realize he didn't want to be another fainted wild Pokémon, another deleted file. By the time Ralts is able to figure this out, Xena catches him in the Great Ball.

He hasn't come out of the ball since. He feels his thoughts slip away, a disturbing sensation to a Pokémon who is supposed to feeling everything. Ralts tries to hang onto his conscious until he is released, but he fades into an unthinking NPC while Xena stands listening to Sina. He goes back to the basic programming, telling him he must only generate actions, and take in feelings, in battle.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you all of you wonderful Viewers, Followers, Favourite-ers, and Reviewers. Your support and motivation made this chapter come faster. Don't expect another chapter during the week, though.**

**Thank you The-regular-adventureofgumball for your review. I understand your request, and truthfully didn't mean to drag the whole 'NPC's need energy to think' idea for so long. I really wanted Sienna to first interact with Calem and had a whole scene planned out. Then I watched the let's plays, and played the game, and had to completely scrap that. There is a very short moment of this in the actual Chapter 10, but it won't really start until Chapter 11, sorry. Don't worry, I'm trying to type them up fast and then spending a day to go over them. Thank you soooo much for your review!**

**Big thanks to Someone. The difference between the grass and the dirt is one grew where it wasn't supposed to and the other goes back to normal after the siblings leave. I really hated that in the game, you use rock smash and it comes back after you went to heal. The whole Nurse Joy thing was supposed to be after they healed their Pokémon. The transfer of Poké Balls is pretty much the only contact Sienna ever gets with the nurse, but she does spread 'energy' when talking. Sorry if that wasn't clear before. I'm glad you liked the end segment. Thank you for all your tips. Thank you for your reviews. Thank you for spending the time to write them, it's awesome!**

**Sunday the second is still the date for the next chapter, but I hope you'll be lenient with me. I may not have it ready in time. Thanks for reading everyone!**


	14. Chapter 10 Who Cares About Type Advantag

Chapter 10 Who Cares About Type Advantages

The backpacker is one of the six people inside the connector tunnel. Sienna walks up to him while Alex looks around.

"Lumiose City is the biggest city in all of Kalos…" the backpacker says. Alex snorts and walks up beside his sister. There's nothing to see here, Alex thinks to himself. Everything in the tunnel is so bland, unlike outside. "There's still plenty I haven't seen."

"There's plenty we need to see," Alex copies the hiker's bored voice. He looks to his sister to see her staring at him with raised eyebrows. "What? It's not like he can hear me." Alex turns to head down at the end of the room where the assistants stand. "Besides, he shouldn't say that because I know I'm not going to see everything before I wake up."

Sienna sighs from beside him, but says nothing. She's gone back to not talking, Alex internally rolls his eyes. Figures, when we're alone she'll talk however she wants, but with people around she hates to speak.

The professor's assistants move down to block the room's exit as the siblings walk towards them. Figures, Alex thinks while actually rolling his eyes. It's like roller skating while Sienna walks. They wait for us like I wait for her. I wonder how much Sycamore paid them for waiting for us. I wonder how _long_ they were waiting for us.

The boy, Dexio, looks directly at Alex, unnerving the twelve year old boy slightly. Dexio calls from his position on Sina's right, "So, how are you and Chestnut getting along?" He then turns to Sienna and asks, "So, how are you and Frogadier getting along?"

"Um, good," Sienna says automatically. Alex wants to face palm at her politeness.

"They can't hear you," Alex reminds her. The light pink on her cheeks gives away her embarrassment. Gosh, Alex thinks. Its moments like these when I feel like the older one.

A button, Dexio continues, "The more you walk around with your Pokémon, the stronger your friendship will become."

"Tell me something I don't know," Alex mumbles. Sienna catches this, but chooses to stay silent. She presses A.

Dexio comes up and holds up his hands. He has a CD in each, "Here! This is the TM for Return." Alex and Sienna each take one and he continues, "This is a move that gets more powerful when your friendship with your Pokémon using it is strong." They tuck TM 27 goes into their bags.

Sina speaks next, "Right through this gate, and you'll be in Lumiose City! Go on already!"

"Can't when you're in the way," Alex says. When neither assistant moves he moans. "I guess we have to go through them."

"Let's go," his sister says before a yawn. "I need some sleep."

"I wonder what time it is," Alex hears his sister mumble something but he didn't catch it. "Ladies first?"

"Really," Sienna asks. "You're trying that again?"

Alex uses 'innocent child' face. Super effective, Sienna gives in and walks out of the room first.

"Later creeps!" Alex calls as soon as Sienna disappears. He smirks, leaving the room in a jog.

'Lumiose City': reads the watches of the siblings. The roads of the large city are made of cobblestone. The buildings are high, but not high enough to seem big city-like. There are a few cars on the road, a first for a Pokémon game if you don't count the games Black, White and their sequels. The doors of the buildings all look different, giving it a community feeling. Most Pokémon games have the same doors. The building that stands out, though, is the tall, white, Eiffel Tower–like structure in what looks like the middle of the city.

"Wow," Sienna breathes. Alex nods, for the first time dumbstruck into silence.

Giving each other impish smiles (Sienna's is a little slyer), the two head down the street. Alex clicks on his roller skates and rushes ahead of her.

"Cheater," she says from behind him. Alex laughs and skates backwards to see her scrunched up face.

"It's not cheating if you're using everything you have," Alex calls. He suddenly hits an invisible wall with an 'oomph'. As he rolls towards his sister, she silently cheers because it wasn't her.

Suddenly appearing in between his sister and him are Sina and Dexio. They run up beside Alex and wait for Sienna to come up. She bends down onto her knees to catch her breath. Alex rolls his eyes at her lack of stamina saying, "Lazy butt."

Sina is the first of the assistants to speak, "I'll go ahead and wait in front of the lab for you!"

A button and she walks off. Dexio says, "Follow her that way to the lab!"

Sienna lifts from her knees and turns to her brother whispering, "Shall we?"

"We shall," Alex says taking off in front. He hears his sister sigh as she tries to keep up with him. As he rolls down the dark, gray brick street after the assistants his watch bleeps. It reads: 'South Boulevard'.

Alex passes a woman who shouts after him, "If you want the Pokémon Lab, keep your eyes out for the Poké Ball pillars out front!" He continues to skate down the street until he sees a person in a blue beret. He stops because a little ways behind the man is a ginormous building with large Poké Ball statues on pillars in front of it.

"This is South Boulevard." the man in front of him says, causing Alex to jump. Alex stares in shock as the man continues, "The Pokémon Lab, the Trainer PR Video Studio, and the stylist, Coiffure Clips, are on this boulevard."

Alex turns around to see his sister walking up, her hand over her watch. "You did that on purpose," he accuses.

"Maybe," she says. "That guy was really quiet, so can you tell me what he said?"

Alex smirks, "Nope," he pops the p. "Now, hurry up we're almost there!"

Reaching the front of the extremely large building Alex smiles in excitement. Finally, he thinks to himself, a story plot.

Sina, who stands guard at the front of the building, turns and smiles at them. "This building," she starts, "is the Sycamore Pokémon Lab! Let's go inside!"

Giving his sister a push, Alex takes charge going into the building. Sienna follows behind, getting bumped forwards by an invisible wall if she falls too far behind.

"You've travelled a long way from Vaniville Town," Sina says, appearing before the siblings as they reach the reception area of the building, "but you're finally here!"

Alex watches as Sienna puts on a fake smile. Sleep calls her as it does for him. He doesn't want to skip through this plot point, so he glares. She catches it, pausing her hand on the A button of her watch.

"What," she asks confused.

"We can go to the Pokémon Center after this," Alex says, staring hard into her eyes. She doesn't look away; she never has when he is being serious. "But I need to make sure you can make it through this without falling asleep."

"I'll be fine," the brunette says. Her jaw clenches and unclenches signalling a stifled yawn. "Don't worry."

This time she presses A and Sina continues as if the sibling's conversation never happened, "The professor can't wait to meet you. You can find him on the third floor," A button, "so hop in the elevator!"

"Just a question," Alex says, ignoring the conversation they had before. He talks normally to his sister, as if it didn't happen. "But why did the professor choose us if he hasn't ever met us?"

"I don't know," Sienna whispers. Her eyes flicker all over the room. Alex starts walking towards the elevator behind Sina. "Bad hiring skills," the brunette continues, following behind her brother. Once reaching the elevator, Sienna looks up at the death trap and asks, "Is that even safe?"

"Gosh sis," Alex complains. "Just roll with it. Come on." Wearily Sienna gets on the elevator with her brother. "Second floor, here we come!"

"What," Sienna yelps as Alex presses the button for the second floor. The small elevator starts to move up at a nice, calm speed.

"Aha," Alex shouts as the elevator stops. He practically leaps out of the elevator, "Professor, where are you?"

"Alex," Sienna whispers, her eyes dart between all of the doctors and assistants on this floor. "The professor is supposed to be on the third floor."

"What," Alex yells. No, I swear the woman said second floor. Alex sighs, "If we're here we might as well talk to the people, see if we can get anything." Sienna nods and the split up.

Five minutes later the siblings meet in the middle of the lab. Alex asks, "Did you get anything?"

Sienna hands him two Luxury Balls, "I got five. Did you get anything?"

"No," Alex turns to the elevator. His face twists an excited smile. "Ready to go?"

Sienna clenches her jaw, stifling another yawn, "Yeah."

The two siblings pile into the elevator and Sienna presses button for the third floor. The ride is short. As soon as they get off, Sienna's eyes narrow and all thoughts off sleep leave her. "You," she hisses at the dark hair man across the room.

Alex is amused by her actions. Only my sister would still be mad with a professor, "Why are you mad?"

"He asked what gender I was," Sienna huffs while crossing her arms. She isn't telling the whole truth, but Alex doesn't notice.

"Pah-lease. All professors do that."

"So," the man across the room calls out. Both turn their attention to him. "We finally meet!" he walks up to the siblings, giving the farce of looking at them. "Fantastic! You're here! Come this way, won't you?"

"Wait, what," Alex asks. "What do you mean, we finally meet? You stalked us in the dark room!"

"How does that bruise feel," Sienna asks loudly. Alex startles at her outburst. He follows her gaze to the professor's cheek where a small discolouration is.

"What is that from," Alex asks. Sienna pops her lips but doesn't say anything. With a sigh Alex presses A.

The professor turns away from the siblings and walks to the other end of the room and then turns right. He disappears behind a wall, leaving the siblings to walk to curiously after him. Alex is excited as he turns the corner to Sycamore's office. Sienna lets out a breath and Alex looks at the office in a board expression.

"Where are the machines," Alex whines. "The cool inventions? This place is boring!"

The office is nothing more than a desk, a chair, record player, and paintings. While Sienna gazes around at the blue walls with gold trim, Alex stares dejectedly at the red carpet. This professor is a bust, he thinks. Why couldn't he be a cool, young professor? We've had old, very old, khakis, and female professors so far. This guy seemed cool, everyone was raving when he was first introduced, but now he seems… well he doesn't seem like a professor.

Alex finally looks up from the carpet, realizing his sister isn't going to continue the plot. The red head points at the professor and presses A. The professor throws open his arms and shouts, "Many thanks for coming all the way for Vaniville Town!" He relaxes his arms back to his sides. One hand goes on a hip while the other falls limp at his side. He continues, "I'm Professor Sycamore!" Sienna twitches, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you!"

"How do you forget the people you've kidnapped," Sienna mutters.

"Really Sienna," Alex asks, exasperated. "This is a dream. There's no way he could have kidnapped us." His sister gives him a look. He pretends not to see it and presses A.

"How's your Pokémon journey going so far," the professor asks. "Have you met many different Pokémon?" A button. "Fantastic," he holds out both hands, "Let me have a quick look at your Pokédex and see!"

"We never said yes," Sienna mumbles but digs out her Pokédex anyways. Alex does the same and they place the equipment in the outstretched hands.

The professor takes out a cord and attaches it to both Pokédexes. After a few seconds of silence he pulls the chord out and gives back each Pokédex to its rightful owner. Sienna is also given the cord.

"Hmm…," the professor mumbles. "So you've seen… kinds of Pokémon in Central Kalos, then." A button. "Oh ho! The pages are getting filled in. It's starting to look good!" A button. The professor takes a step forwards. Sienna steps in front of her brother and pushes him behind her. "Well now, you two DO have a certain je ne sais quoi!" A button, and Alex rolls his eyes at his sister's protectiveness. He comes out from behind her, but only far enough for the professor can see him. "I have a good feeling about you two!" A button, "At first, I was thinking of choosing only two children from a town when I was," A button, "deciding who to give a Pokémon to." A button, "In Vaniville Town, it was going to be the children of a Veteran Trainer I know." A button. "About then, I learned that the Rhyhorn Racer Grace and her son and daughter were moving here." A button, "Here in the Kalos region, you're far away from everything you used to know…"

Sienna snorts.

"That really hit me right here…" the professor continues. "Then it hit me – I should give you a Pokémon and have you travel around Kalos!"

"Hi professor," a squeaky voice shouts. Alex turns around to see a brunette come around the corner. "It's Shauna!"

Alex moans as Shauna marches up beside him. Serena and Calem follow behind her, but stop at the back wall. They stare blankly and say, "Sorry to have kept you waiting."

Sienna shudders. Alex speaks his thoughts out loud, "I've forgotten how creepy it is when they do that." His sister nods her agreement.

A button, "Fantastic!" Professor Sycamore shouts. "Now let's all have a Pokémon Battle!"

Sienna flinches and goes 'eh' while Alex smirks and turns to Calem and Serena saying, "Bring it."

A button, "Your opponent will be me," Sycamore continues. Alex freezes, a foot half lifted off the ground. Sienna rubs an eye with her hand as Alex whirls around to the Professor.

A button and Shauna, Calem, and Serena all turn to face each other. This goes unnoticed to the siblings as Alex takes his sister's hand. He pulls her right hand up with his left. Pointing at the professor he presses the A button.

"Shall we battle," the professor asks. Alex says yes and his sister nods. "Just so you know, I'm not that tough!"

;;;

'You are challenged by Pokémon Professor Sycamore!': his watch reads. 'Pokémon Professor Sycamore sent out Bulbasaur!'

The professor lifts his arm with the Poké Ball to his opposite shoulder. He swings the arm in a downward arch, flicking the ball out of his hand. The Bulbasaur lands across the field from Alex.

"How long do you think he spent learning that," Alex asks, smirking at his sister a few meters away from him. She flashes him a smile back as another Bulbasaur appears, this time across from her.

"Go Chestnut!" Alex shouts, realising his Quilladin.

He checks his watch, smirking at the lower level opponent. This'll be easy, "Use Bite!"

Chestnut runs forwards and latches its mouth on to Bulbasaur. The opponent's health lowers into a low yellow. Bulbasaur retaliates using Leech Seed. It shoots seeds off the top of its bulb. Many miss, but a few do land on Chestnut. Chestnut cringes as his energy drains. The two return to their sides of the field.

He can hold on, Alex thinks. "Use Bite again!"

Chestnut runs forward and bite's Bulbasaur. The Quilladin quickly moves back to his side of the field as the foe faints.

'Pokémon Professor Sycamore sent out Squirtle'.

"Use Vine Whip," Alex shouts. Quilladin flicks both arms out so his hands are parallel to the ground. The Pokémon flicks them forwards. Both wrists sprout a thick vine. The momentum crashes into the Squirtle. Thinking he's won, Alex lets out a whoop. Only catching a glimpse at his wrists watch does he realize the Squirtle didn't faint.

It uses Bubble, a not very effective move against grass types. Only when every bubble has popped does the serious damage of Leech Seed take effect. Chestnut's health bar is now in the yellow zone.

"Vine Whip," Alex shouts again. Chestnut whips out his hands, but the vines go wild and miss Squirtle. Inside his head, Alex feels a flare of worry. Shoot! Don't use bubble, don't use bubble.

'Squirtle used Tail Whip.' Alex breathes in relief as no damage is taken to his Quilladin. Squirtle runs up to its opponent and hits him in the head. The Tail Whip lowers Chestnut's defense.

"Vine Whip," Alex shouts for the third time. As Chestnut swings the vines forward he is sapped by the seeds on his body. His health drains into a lower yellow zone. The health is absorbed into Squirtle, yet the tiny turtle Pokémon still faints from the super effective grass type move.

"Chestnut, return!" Alex retracts his Pokémon as Sycamore send out his final one. "Go, Carleen!"

A Charmander appears across the field from the Pikachu. The Charmander is a level ten male, while Pikachu is at level seventeen.

"Quick Attack," Alex shouts. Carleen sprints forwards. She rams into the side of the Charmander.

'Charmander used ember.' He takes in a deep breath, and then spits out a flaming coal at the Pikachu.

Alex grimaces as the hit becomes critical, lowing his Pikachu's health points into the yellow, "Use Thunder Shock!"

Carleen lets forth a quick burst of energy. The attack hits Charmander straight on, and causes paralysis.

'Charmander is paralysed, cannot attack.' Alex cheers as he reads the words.

"Quick Attack," Alex shouts, clear excitement in his voice. Carleen rushes forwards and slams into Charmander, lowering his health into red.

'Charmander is paralysed, cannot attack.'

"Quick Attack," Alex yells, jumping in anticipation. Carleen defeats Charmander by slamming into his stomach.

"Yes," he shouts while recalling his Pokémon.

'The opposing Charmander fainted.' Said Pokémon falls to the ground and disappears into light, returning to its ball. 'You defeated Professor Sycamore' reads his watch. He looks over to his sister, who stands there smiling at his actions. Looking back across the field, Professor Sycamore appears.

The professor shrugs and lowers his head, "Ha, ha! You two are too much for me! You're really something, aren't you?"

Alex blinks as they are transported back to the professor's office, the smile not leaving his face.

;;;

Xena sighs as they stand back in the office. After winning the battle, a part of her no longer registers the professor as a threat. Every muscle in her body relaxes as the adrenaline leaves. She wobbles on her feet as her body crashes with barely any energy.

"I think I've figured it out," the professor shouts. Xena jumps in shock, heart racing as the adrenaline comes back. She accidently loses her footing and falls back onto Calem.

As they start to tip backwards, Calem's arms go under her shoulder. He balances out and keeps them standing, although only his arms are keeping Xena from sliding to the ground. She glances up at his collected face. A blush spreads across her cheeks as she stands up and backs away from the taller boy. "Sorry," she mumbles, shuffling over to where her brother stands.

"S' alright," Calem mumbles, but no one hears him.

"You okay," Alexander asks, the smile still on his face from the previous battle.

"Yah," Xena says. The blush is fading quickly, but she's still embarrassed, "Just tired."

Alex rolls his eyes and presses A. Xena risks a glance back at the black hair boy. Calem stands there with his sister and Shauna, not noticing her glance.

A button. "Figure what out," Shauna asks. All three turn to face the professor. Xena quickly turns herself away as to not get caught staring.

A button, "Alexander, Xena, you're both interesting Pokémon Trainers indeed," the professor says. "It'd be fantastic if you took another Pokémon with you!" Alexander turns to flash his sister an ecstatic smile before pressing A. "Here! Pick one!"

The professor takes out a long cylinder shaped case. He flips the lid open to reveal three Poké Balls. Each has a label under it. One reads 'Bulbasaur', another 'Charmander', and the last reads 'Squirtle'.

Alexander grabs for ball containing Bulbasaur immediately. Xena gazes at the Charmander, but grabs the ball containing Squirtle.

"No type advantage," Alex jokes.

"Squirtle was my first ever Pokémon," Xena says as she hooks the ball securely on her belt. "Who cares about type advantages? That was the hardest decision of my childhood, and I'm not giving up Squirtle for a type advantage."

"Meh," Alexander says, clipping his Pokémon on his belt. "Fine, just makes it easier for me to win against you."

"You picked Bulbasaur and Squirtle, then," Professor Sycamore says. "I see. That's simply wonderful!" A button, "Would you like to give a nickname to your Pokémon?"

Xena clicks 'no' on her watch. Her brother names his Level ten male Vince. His sister raises her eyebrows, as if to ask 'really'?

"My Pokémon, my nickname," Alex says.

"Since you chose Bulbasaur and Squritle," Sycamore says drawing attention to him, "I'll give you these Mega Stones!" He hands Alexander Venusaurite, and Xena Blastoisinite. He then turns to Shauna and the other siblings, nothing in his hands. "Come now, you three. Pick your Pokémon."

"I don't know which one to pick," Shauna complains. "It's so difficult!"

A button, "You'll be together for a long time," Serena says. "So just take your time.

At the same time, Calem says, "It's okay. Take your time."

Professor Sycamore speaks next, "Okay, I've got a feeling everyone else will show up soon."

A button. Tierno and Trevor enter the room. Tierno speaks, "Hi, Professor Sycamore!"

"What's this," Trevor asks. "Everyone is already here."

"See," the professor says. A button. "Wonderful! Everyone's all here!" A button. "So, now that we're all here, I'd like to say a few words." A button. The professor flicks out a hand and points at the space between Xena and Alexander, "Be the best Trainer you can be!"

"Seriously," Alexander asks. "Oh my gosh! Why?"

"Alex," Xena whispers. "Wait until we press A before making a remark."

A button. The professor continues, "At the same time, remember to have fun travelling with your Pokémon!"

"See," Xena whispers.

"I still think he's watched an episode or two of Ash from the T.V. show," Alexander remarks before pressing A.

"Also, I want to ask for your help in solving the Kalos region's biggest mystery:"

"What's inside the Poké Ball," Alexander shouts while Xena whispers it. She smiles as Alexander continues, "Come on, there is no bigger mystery!"

A button, "The secret and potential of Mega Evolution," the professor continues.

"No," Alexander whines. "Aren't you a scientist? Isn't it your job to do this? Why do you people insist on sending ten year olds to do your dirty work?"

Xena turns to her brother and raises an eyebrow. There is a scoff from behind them.

"I'm sixteen," Xena and another, deeper, voice say together. Xena whips her head to look at Calem, blue eyes going wide and lips pursed in an 'o' shape. Calem stares at her with his gray eyes, his face impassive.

"Yah sis," Alexander waves a hand, clearly not having heard the other voice. She turns back to him, her lips pressing tightly together in her worry over her sanity. Alex carries on, "But to remind you, this guy also needed to ask for your gender -"

"Actually?" Calem's voice is heard through Alexander's rant. Xena gives him a glance, not wanting to be rude, and nods. When his face reveals nothing once again, Xena really starts to question what lack of sleep does to her.

"-so I'm just saying ten to state a point," Alexander finishes. "Everyone who starts their journey is supposed to be ten."

"Lets' just," *yawn*, "finish up, okay? I'm going to fall asleep on my feet as it is." And I'm pretty sure that last battle took away my sanity. I wonder if I'll start seeing something crazier than what I'm hearing, because hearing a voice is crazy enough.

"Sure'p," Alexander presses A.

"A new kind of evolution that occurs in battle," Sycamore says. "That's why I gave you that Mega Stone just now. It's an important clue!" A button.

"Mega Evolution," Trevor asks. "What should we do about the Pokédex?"

"Not another one," Alexander grumbles, thinking back to Red from Pokémon Origins.

"Trever, my lad," Professor Sycamore starts, "if that's what 'best Trainer' means to you, then I want you to go out there," A button, "and complete that Pokédex!"

"This only benefits him," Alexander groans. Xena rolls her eyes and presses A.

"Mega Evolution sounds really interesting," Shauna shouts.

"If you're interested in Mega Evolution," Sycamore says, turning to face the girl. "Why don't you check out Camphrier Town?"

"Oh," her brother groans. He suddenly leans his head on Xena's shoulder. "He's still making us do his work. Why didn't he just go there himself?"

"Alex," Xena warns. There is no threatening tone to it as she tries not to blink and stay awake.

A button, "That town has a lot of history – you might find a hint there," Sycamore finishes. A button. He turns to keep his blank eyes on everyone, "Now listen," A button. "If you visit many different places to complete the Pokédex -"

"Here we go again," Alexander grumbles. He lifts his head back up and rubs his cheek.

"-You will probably see Pokémon," A button.

"No cheese Sherlock."

"With many ways of living and meet," Sycamore carries on, "people with many ways of thinking."

"Black and White reference anyone," Alexander calls out.

All Xena wants to do is hit her head on the wall to wake up.

"First," Sycamore continues to talk, "accept the ways of living and thinking that sometimes conflict with your own."

"Anyone? Anyone," her younger brother shrugs. "I guess not."

A button, "And think about what's really important – this will truly broaden your horizons."

"Isn't that a game," Alexander asks his sister.

Xena groans, "Horizon, yes. Now if you interrupt once more before the professor is done I'm going to hit you." I just want to sleep, her mind begs.

A button and this time both Serena and Calem talk. Serena says, "I think being different from others makes me special."

While Calem says, "I think being different from others is a part of what makes me special."

A button, together they say, "Mastering Mega Evolution will definitely set me apart from other Trainers!"

"Ugh," Alexander shudders. "It's still creepy when they do that." Xena flinches and glares at him. "Hey, the professor was done talking. You never said anything about the others."

A button and nothing happens.

"Finally," Xena cheers. Her daze mind begs for sleep. She wouldn't be surprised if she didn't remember anything later.

Her brother sighs, "Okay, I guess we need to find a Pokémon Center."

"Great," Xena mutters sarcastically as they weave through the people and out of the office. "More walking."

"Hey, Xena," a quiet voice calls from behind her. She stops and turns around while her brother continues to the elevator. "Watch your step next time, 'kay?"

"Yah," Xena mumbles through a yawn. "Thanks for catching me, Calem."

A light chuckle, "No problem, now, go get some sleep."

Xena nods as her brother calls, "Hurry up sis!"

Dragging herself to the elevator, Xena feels as though she's forgetting something important, something very important. Oh well, she thinks. It is so important I'll just remember it later. The nagging feeling doesn't go away for the whole rid down the elevator.

After walking out of the elevator, the siblings are greeted with the sight of a very tall man with a huge head of hair. It is a vibrant orange colour and stands a foot or two higher than the top of his head. It curls around like a lion's mane. His hair goes down around his face and creates a beard. He is wearing an orange tie the _exact_ same colour as his hair. He is wearing a button up jacket-suit that is black with red lines and white fluff coming from the unbuttoned part.

_What the_-, Xena thinks she's hallucinating. The orange hair man talks to Sina, not noticing the siblings eavesdropping. Before they can say anything, Xena, needing to confirm she's not going crazy, whispers, "Do you see that?"

"Sadly, yes," Alexander sniffs in mock sadness. "Where does that beard start?"

"I don't know," Xena hisses in a startled tone. "I'm freaking out, Alex."

"Calm down," he whispers back as they make their way over to the two. "I'm sure we'll wake up soon."

"So," the man's voice is deep and rumbles in its expressionless tone, "I will be able to meet them soon, then." A button.

"Yes," Sina answers. Xena notices, even though his voice is toneless, that he didn't phrase it as a question. A slight giggle slips past her lips, causing her brother to look at her strangely. She shrugs, blaming it on her fatigue, and presses the A button.

"The child chosen by the professor…" the orange hair man says. "I wonder what potential they have."

With an A button Sina turns to the siblings saying, "And here's two of them now…"A button. "That's Alexander and Xena. Alexander, Xena, come here for a sec!"

Not like we have a chose, Xena thinks as an invisible wall pushes her forwards. She stumbles forwards while her brother walks head held high towards Sina and the man.

"Oh," the man says, his gaze is on the wall behind both siblings. "You received a Pokédex from the professor then…" A button. "How wonderful!"

"Why do they all shout," Xena mutters. She gives her drooping eye lids a quick wipe.

A button, "That is a wonderful thing, indeed. You are one of the chosen ones."

"N, I am your father," Alexander says, lowering his voice.

Xena shudders at a sudden thought, "I hope this guy isn't our father." Alex shudders as well.

A button, "I am Lysandre."

…

…

"Do you care to repeat that," her brother asks.

"I swear," Xena says through a yawn, "this guy is an evil organization's leader. Just his name has got, like, eight letters, maybe, like Giovanni. And his name means freeing a man."

"Uh, how do you know that?"

"When you're bored," Xena rubs her eyes, "and you're at a computer, and just happen to type in random name generator, you learn some things."

"O-kay, then," Alexander takes a few steps away from his drowsy sister.

A button, "I've tried to learn as much about Pokémon as I can to help build a brighter future," the orange hair man, Lysandre, says unaware of the conversation that just went on. A button, "Professor Sycamore has taught me so much."

"See sis," Alexander says, poking his sister to keep her awake. "He can't be the bad guy if a Pokémon professor is teaching him."

Xena, too tired to respond, shrugs. I don't think Sycamore has a great people sense, she thinks. Plus, this guy's had more screen time than Sina. Xena eyes the motionless girl wearily. Yep, this girl is only important for fawning over the professor.

A button, "Oh, I see you have a Holo Caster!" A button, "Knowledge is power, after all. Put it to good use." A button, "Now listen! It is vital that this world become a better place." Alexander groans, it's just like N. A button, "And the people and Pokémon chosen to make the world better must work," A button, "tirelessly to achieve this goal." A button, Lysandre turns to Sina "Well, I'll be off. Please give Professor Sycamore my best." A button, the man turns to stare at the ceiling as if lost in thought. "My desire… it is for a more beautiful world!" And with that, he walks off.

_Finally_, Xena thinks. Her relief is short lived when Sina speaks, "Still…"

Xena groans. Her brother gives her a pat and rolls his eyes.

A button, "I wonder what kind of beautiful world Lysandre desires…" A button, Sina turns to the siblings, "In this great big Kalos region, there are many different Pokémon." A button, "I hope getting the Pokédex gives you a chance to learn about them."

Alexander presses A and nothing else happens. "Finally," Xena groans as her eyes close. "Alex," she mumbles, eyes still closed. "Can you lead me to the Pokémon Center?"

Her brother gives a chuckle, "Sure Sienna." He takes her hand and guides her towards the door. He stops when his shoulder hits an invisible wall. "Or, you know, not."

Xena peaks one eye open and places her free hand on the wall, groaning when it doesn't go through. "Why?" Alexander chuckles at the sight of his sister whining. He turns to see the rest of the group from upstairs appear by the elevator and walk towards them. Xena follows her brother's gaze and turns to meet Serena's blank gaze. With another quiet groan, Xena lightly leans on her brother.

"ALEX, XENA!" Shauna shouts at the top of her squeaky voice. Xena whimpers. Even Calem gives the pretense of flinching. "There's a place I want to go check out!" A button, "So, I'll see you around!"

What was that, Xena thinks bitterly. Shauna walks past her and Xena resists the urge to stick out her foot. Gosh, can't the girl lower her voice for once? Some of us are trying to sleep. She sighs, now I'm more awake than when battling Sycamore.

At the same time, Serena and Calem say, "There's something I want to talk to you about. I'll be waiting for you at Café Soleil, neighbors!" They walk past the siblings, Serena past Xena and Calem past Alexander.

Trevor speaks towards Tierno, "I wonder what Serena and Calem want to talk about." A button, "Why couldn't they just use the Holo Caster?"

"What is the Holo Caster," Alexander asks.

"Alex," Xena groans.

"What, I'm curious," the boy defends. He rolls his eyes at Xena's expectant glance, "Fine."

A button, Tierno speaks, "No clue, but it seems hush-hush." A button, "I AM curious about what's going on, but we should probably stay out of it." A button, they walk forwards, "Hey, ALEX, XENA," the latter groans at being yelled at, "to get to Camphrier Town, leave the lab, turn left, and go straight." A button, "That Café Soleil Serena and Calem were talking about is over that way too."

A button, and nothing else happens. Xena allows her brother to guide her as she closes her eyes. They walk outside, only for her to start being pushed forwards by an invisible wall. Trevor and Tierno appear beside them, walking past the siblings. The four all stop and look at each other.

"Lumiose City is very large," Trevor says. "But if you stay on the main streets," A button, "You shouldn't get lost."

A button. "I'm gonna go on a little walk…" Tierno says. "The streets sure wind and wander here."

A button, "Oh," Trevor starts, "just so you know… Camphrier Town and Café Soleil are just over this way."

"Were we supposed to see something," Alexander asks his drowsing sister.

"Uh, um, uh," she mutters. I haven't felt this tired, _yawn_, since I first started taking that medication.

A button, and both the boys talking disappear. Alexander isn't shocked; people have been doing that a lot in this dream. "Come on sis, I'm starting to get hungry."

They spot a Pokémon Center directly across the street from where Shauna is standing; across the street and a little ways away from the Pokémon Lab. Alexander guides his sister in the building and out of the sun. He releases her hand and she snaps her eyes open long enough to make it to the one long couch. Xena buries her head into the black leather-like cushions and falls to sleep.

;;;

Alex glances at the clock in the corner; it's a little pass two in the morning. He stands up and puts his empty plate in the garbage, making sure for a second time there is nothing in there before dumping the stuff. He's done everything need in the Pokémon Center, including changing into fresh clothing. Taking a seat at the empty end of the couch, Alex gazes at his sleeping sister. He's not really tired, this being a dream and all.

Let's check out my new bulbasaur, his eyes light up as he finally thinks of something to do. He looks to his watch, clicking with his stylus until he gets to Vince's screen. Vince's nature is rash, he is mischievous, and is level ten.

I'm bored again, he thinks lying down on the couch. As much as the thought of releasing his Pokémon entertains him, he is scared; though he won't admit it. He would rather his sister be there, awake, when he releases his Pokémon, just in case something were to happen.

Alex closes his eyes and knowingly falls asleep.

;;;

Her hair had a faint smell of strawberries and lemons. When she fell into him, Calem couldn't help but breath in the scent. Strange, he thinks, those two smells don't usually fit well together.

His neighbor's blue eyes gaze straight into his gray ones, not really seeing. Calem can't help but feel amused by her dazed expression. He helps to lift Xena onto her feet; the girl is actually quite light for her size.

"Sorry," Xena whispers as she backs away.

Trying to stay cool, Calem gives a half shrug and says, "S' alright." She must have not heard him as she gave no inkling of hearing.

All through the talk with the professor Calem can't get the smell of her out of his mind. At one point he picks a long strand of hair off his shoulder. He looks at the brown thread before dropping it to the ground.

"I'm sixteen," Calem says at the same time as Xena. Calem meets her gaze. That's my age as well, he thinks with a smug feeling.

When his neighbors bring up Sycamore not knowing their ages he asks, "Actually?"

Xena looks back at him he does all he can to not stare into her blue eyes.

The professor comments more on Mega Evolution. That is what being a trainer is to me, Calem thinks. Being the strongest, the best, is something Serena and I grew up to. Calem pauses as he tries to remember past memories but can't. How did we grow up?

In trying to remember, Calem uses the energy given to him through Xena.

"Great," says a sarcastic voice. Calem snaps back to thinking at new energy he gets. "More walking."

"Hey, Xena," Calem speaks, on impulse, softly as the girl moves away from the group. "Watch your step next time, 'kay?"

She doesn't look too hard to beat, whispers a part of him. The battler in him sizes her up while the girl yawns.

"Yah," Xena mumbles through a yawn. "Thanks for catching me, Calem."

A light chuckle slips past his lips, "No problem, now, go get some sleep."

He watches as his neighbor nods. Her brother calls, "Hurry up sis!" and she leaves to find him.

Calem stands there, his mind going back to the thought before. Why don't I remember anything before meeting my neighbors? Did they have something to do with this? Alex looks to oblivious to know anything, so it must have been Xena. Yes, Calem's eyes flare with a spark of anger, it must have been her. She did something to me.

But she looked so ni- he cuts the voice off. Trying to keep in his anger he thinks that she must have done something when she fell on him. Yes, that must have been when. That, or when she slapped my hand after going through the forest. The witch, I help her and she erases my memories. When I see her again-

Calem's anger drains away along with his emotions. All the energy leaves his body and he becomes a slave to his coding once again. Calem, along with the rest of the group from Sycamore's office, appear on the main floor of the Pokémon Center. Calem talks to the siblings as if his thoughts never happened. He becomes a NPC once again, disappearing and appearing as his coding commands.

* * *

**A/N: Oh my gosh, don't hate me for this chapter… Erm. Okay, so this is the official chapter ten! Thank you to all of you Viewers, Followers, Favourite-ers, and Reviewers! This last bit is my re-done version of Calem - Xena interaction. Tired Xena won't remember anything until, well an upcoming chapter.**

**Thank you Someone for your awesome review. That's a great idea, but I have a better action scene planned out for that. Tired Xena, she blushes :). I don't particularly like writing her like that, but it works for that chapter. Slightly tired/hungry Alex is very sarcastic. Or at least for that chapter he was. Magikarp, best thing to get off of a black market. I'm so, so, so sorry about the Navi thing. I love LOZ, but dislike Ocarina of Time and threw that in just in case people didn't get the reference. I am so sorry. Willy, the guy catches a Ralts in Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. It took me forever to find a reference to those games. Again, thank you very much for your review.**

**LittleKrus, thank you very much for your reviews. I love writing present-tense :). For the next chapter I'm going to work on those. I've been trying to find a way to express Xena talking louder than normal without shouting and that helps a lot. Thank you very much for your review.**

**Ie-maru, your request should be done in two 'actual' chapters (so chapter twelve). I'm hoping to have all of the Pokémon have some bonding time. I'm glad you asked, she actually has two reasons for being tired. One is because the NPC's are taking her energy to become aware while the second reason is… :) Well, that's a cliché (I believe). I won't say what it is now, as I hope everyone will figure it out. Thank you for your review!**

**Sorry for the lengthy authors note. The next will not be long, promise. The next two chapters will be posted on Sunday, February ninth. These will be dream/crossover chapters. They (or at least Sienna's) give away major points for chapter eleven. I hope everyone enjoys their week. Happy February**


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